ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
KENT ARTIST PROFILE:
JÉRÉME CROW
interview by Lisamarie Lamb
THE WORK OF JÉRÉME CROW IS DIFFICULT TO PIN DOWN. IT’ S ECLECTIC, DIFFERENT, IT TAKES INSPIRATION FROM ALL TYPES OF PEOPLE, PLACES, EARLIER ART, THE IMAGINATION … IT IS EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE, AND IT IS REALLY RATHER WONDERFUL. WE SPOKE TO JÉRÉME ABOUT HIS WORK, HOW HE MANAGES IT ALL, AND HIS NEWEST EXHIBITION IN FOLKESTONE.
How would you describe your art?
I am a painter and maker based in Kent. My work explores biography and portraiture, repetition, temporality, time and memories through the manipulation and invention of narrative.
What about your background? What did you do before you became an artist?
I have always been compelled to be creative and to make art. It isn’ t always the best way of making a living and being an artist has meant I have needed to have lots of extra jobs to help pay the bills, such as a factory worker, delivery driver, chef( at the Little Chef), boat builder, classroom assistant, and more.
What made you want to be an artist?
From as early as I can remember I have always loved creating, making and building. Growing up, my mother was creative – painting, flower arranging, jam-making, pickling, preserving, and gardening. My father was practical and technical being a bomb disposal expert in the army and also a proficient DIY car mechanic. I must have inherited some of these attributes.
Who or what inspires you?
My art is a kind of reflex to how I experience the world. It is my way of interpreting, recording and responding to everyday life. Because of this I work spontaneously and my art can have an impulsive feel to it. It’ s my favourite way of working and I don’ t like to plan too far in advance – if at all.
Many artists stick to one medium, one type or art, but you create still life, landscapes, figurative work, sculpture and film. Why is this?
It probably goes back to being a child( or never growing up) where you are just as happy digging in the sand on the beach, squelching clay figures, or sploshing poster paints. I don’ t really see a need to divide disciplines and like to experiment as much as possible in a project. Often I will bring together different mediums such as making small sculptures which I can then use as the subject for a painting. I find video recording is very useful, especially as a preliminary medium to build up a back story for a narrative.
What is your favourite kind of art to create?
I love experimenting with different making processes but ultimately always come back to painting. Painting in oils is very much my passion. At the moment I am painting portraits
using museum tweets as a source material, interacting with artworks to create a translation which returns the subject to an image rendered in paint.
I am concerned with the techniques and craftsmanship of familiar paintings and how the secondary image reproduced in digital media omits the artists’ labour. By translating these images into paint I am able to explore the original artist’ s creation to develop an intimate relationship with their painting process. My response in paint comes between the work and the viewer continuing a conversation with art history.
See Jéréme’ s work at The Lilford Gallery 8 The Old High Street Folkestone CT20 1RL www. lilfordgallery. com
www. crowfineart. com
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