Showdown Winner: Kelly Susan

“collage 4″ is available for prints for $50.00
Where are you from? South-East London
What attracted you to the collage process? I use a very mixed media approach in my work, I chose whatever medium is appropriate to the concept I am trying to get across, collage seemed to extend what I was trying to communicate in some of the photographs I was taking of my body.
Found materials or created materials for your collages? Created materials from photography, although I have considered introducing found imagery.
What themes do you pursue? Identity, female body perception, obesity, extreme weightloss, phototherapy and body manipulation.
How many years as an artist? Well I’m only 22 and I’m still growing as an artist. I still question what an artist is, is everyone an artist?
Sketchbook? My current sketchbook that the work “collage 4″ came from is a standard black spiral bound sketchbook that contains a series of collages where I experimented with body manipulation, distortion and abstraction within my work. The sketchbook is essential for experimentation, although, I feel it can sometimes become self indulgent. I would often photograph/photocopy these collages as soon as possible and put them on the wall in my studio for others to react to and make comment upon so I could determine what was being communicated and what the initial reaction was to my work. This also helped me in confronting my own body and becoming less apprehensive about revealing myself as I began to look at my body critically as a form and not as an entity struggling for normality. What is normality? What is this form? What has it been through? Where are the marks? How can it twist and turn and stretch? And where can I take it next?

Kelly’s Studio

Most important tool you use? It depends on when you ask me and where I find myself in my work, currently it would be be fair to say primarily photography
Favorite font? Ariel Black
Where is your studio? Currently I don’t have one since I finished my degree last June and am currently studying for a PGCE, we have studios but haven’t made full use of them yet…my last studio space I think was my bathroom!
Tattoos? Yes one, on my foot. My two sisters and I have the same tattoo.
iTunes or records? Itunes, although I remember having vinyl records when I was about 5 years old and love the sound quality I dont currently own a record player and like many enjoy the convienience of downloading digitally.
Favorite cuss word? I cuss too much. I shouldn’t really say I have a favourite because I’ve tried several times to stop.
Succulents or Cigarettes? Succulents.
Everyone has a vice. Care to call yourself out? I talk too much! Cussing would probably be one of my vices too.
What’s around the corner from your place? The river Thames…not the pretty part!
Prefer to work with music or in silence? I actually prefer the radio, for some reason it helps me concentrate more. However, if i’m in a photography studio then it’s usually silence.
Where can we find you outside the studio? Lately, in school on my PGCE placement. Or somewhere I can be inspired.
Who are your favorite writers? In art terms, I’m very interested in Bourriaud’s ‘Relational Aesthetics’. However, I grew up on Harry Potter.
Favorite contemporary artist? Overall, I would say Louise Bourgeois as her work spans across time and medium.
What could you not do without? Freedom of expression.

“bound” is available for sale for $62.00 at Saatchi Online
Day job? PGCE student teacher.
Process> Concept or Process<Concept? Concept is primary, process strengthens the concept.
Would you rather be able to make a living as an artist now or become famous after you die? Living, how else would you reflect upon it and make further progress?
Going deaf or going blind? Going deaf, although I think the sensory experience of my work through other methods than the visual could be interesting to explore.
If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do? I always say if I wasn’t making art I’d be working as an usher in a theatre. Art and drama have always been my biggest interests since primary school.
Favorite sound? Double base.
Favorite smell? Chips and vinegar
What was the uncomfortable situation you have ever survived? Just ONE situation??
Art School or Self-taught? Art school.
What do you collect? Pictures and dresses.

Behind the Scenes Images of Kelly Casting Herself

Which living or dead artist would you most like to meet? Santiago Sierra.
Greatest achievement? Losing ten and a half stone whilst at university and showing strangers what happened after…
Finish the sentence: “I would never be caught dead….” in those shoes!

Final Cast of Kelly’s Stomach
How cleanly do you work? I’ve refined my work in my use of photography, but if you ever let me near a paint palette, watch out!
Do you have any trinkets or photos of friends in your studio? My friends and I on my degree course used to draw pictures and stick them in each others studio spaces, my friend hannah did some particularly interesting drawings on our takeaway boxes from our lunch from the uni canteen.
Were you popular in high school? Not in the traditional sense but I had alot of friends.
Religion or Pop Culture? Aren’t they the same thing?
Which artist would you have decorate your home? Christo and Jean- Claude. Like a present!
Couch surf or hotel? Couch!
Would you rather see your art on a t-shirt or on a billboard? Billboard, I don’t know if the public would want to wear a picture of my stomach on their…stomach…