INTERVIEW
A Collaboration
Like No Other
Paper artist, Owen Gildersleeve, has presented a beautifully uplifting new body of work exhibited at Brighton's Phoenix Art Space in the UK, showcasing over fifty one-of-a-kind original artworks. The exhibition was the result of a special collaboration with renowned East Sussex-based screen printers, Harvey Lloyd Screens; a coming together of different handcrafted techniques to celebrate individuality, the beauty in imperfection and the alchemy of collaboration.
What began as a way for Owen to creatively experiment during the isolation of COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, took on new life and energy years later, through working together with with Harvey Lloyd and the exhange of ideas that came with that. The artwork combines mono-screen prints, inks hand painted directly onto the screen creating endlessly unique and unrepeatable results, with hand cut paper designs featuring words, phrases and forms created by Owen in his signature graphic style layered over the top; two individual dimensions created in tandem, beautifully respectful to each other's craft.
The exhibition brought together every aspect of the project and collaboration seemlessly, and Owen took the opportunity to document this unique partnership, working with photographer Jon Aaron Green and film maker Ben Green, to capture the way they worked together and the resulting exhibition, to celebrate the care and magic behind the work.
We spoke with Owen about the journey of putting together this self-initiated project, reflecting on the themes and ideas explored in the artwork, and how collaboration has triumphed!
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The show was another big reminder to me that communication and community is key and that we're not individual islands. Something which really seems to resonate at this time!
– Owen Gildersleeve
The way the initial idea grew from isolation to collaboration, it feels like a mirror for what we all need right now. Would you agree?
Oh most definitely! The lockdowns were a really strange and conflicting time, as it allowed us a chance to breathe and catch-up, which I needed more than I realised, but the whole thing also removed us from that human interaction which is so important. Even just on a basic daily connection and communication level. So although I did find myself during the lockdowns finally having time to play and experiment with new materials and techniques, which did eventually lead to some of the ideas and artworks in the show, I also found I got stuck in a bit of a mental loop, without being able to step away for headspace to workout what ideas were working and how to move things forwards.
Ultimately it wasn't until a few years later when I reached out to Harvey Lloyd Screens that these seeds started to grow and the whole thing really began to take shape. Their input – taking my initial ideas and pushing them a step further – was just what the project needed. It again made me realise the importance of personal connection and collaboration, and how through having a sounding board and being open to input from others, that things are really able to grow and develop. This became the core theme of the show and led to some exciting additional elements, such as the team-up with Perivale Brewery to create a limited edition run of beer labels for the Private View. The opening night was also so cathartic in many ways, finally being able to celebrate this body of work with everyone who had been involved. It was a really wonderful evening!
Film: Ben Green
Photos: Jon Aaron Green
What have been your biggest takeaways from seeing it come together?
The show was just another big reminder to me that communication and community is key and that we're not individual islands. Something which really seems to resonate at this time!
Sometimes as a professional creative, especially working freelance, you get used to working a lot by yourself and making all your own ideas. I think it can push you into a feeling that you might not need other people to move things forwards in your career. But through my work over the years, especially the larger scale projects such as this show where I need to bring in a team or collaborate with other creatives, it reminds me that I really do need the help and input of others and that this can infact lead to bigger, better and more exciting things! It’s something I’m trying to keep more in mind moving forwards.
The artwork seamlessly brings together two very different approaches, it’s a unique collaboration for many reasons. What would you say was the secret to the success of this collaboration?
The collaboration with Harvey Lloyd Screens has been such a wonderful part of this project – It feels like we have formed a really lovely and long lasting creative friendship there. Even though we're coming from different creative spaces and approaches, there was an immediate understanding through our shared passion for hands-on process and our appreciation for physical production. We also had lots of chats about paper stocks, which was very enjoyable, haha!
So that coming together felt quite seamless and there was also a real respect for each other's processes, that in turn helped lead to some of the decisions behind the artworks – such as leaving the frayed borders of the prints visible, as well as my not wanting to cover some of the more detailed prints. These boundaries helped guide me in the artwork creation, whilst knowing that I had the full trust and support of Harvey Lloyd to work with their gorgeous prints in any way that I saw fit.
Photos: Jon Aaron Green
Why are the themes of individuality, imperfection, everyday moments important? Was there a journey in the type selection & design especially?
It's a difficult time at the moment socially, with lots of division among people, which seems to be getting heightened even more through social media. I'd love to see people being more open with each other and embracing and celebrating our differences, as well as being more open to our imperfections – both of others and in ourselves.
It was within this headspace that the show began to form, starting with the phrase 'Like No Other', which came from one of my favourite songs by Gene Clark. The initial plan was to just create a run of split fountain gradient prints, with me handcutting the type on top. But then Harvey Lloyd presented this array of stunning mono-screenprints and I immediately realised that the theme of individuality had been pushed even further, with each print being a total one-of-a-kind. So I started developing and opening up the theme, collecting words and phrases from songs, books and poetry, which resonated with me and felt nicely reacted to the prints. I felt that the designs needed to be crisp and bold to juxtaposition with the prints and also fairly simplistic in manner, allowing all the beautiful painterly textures to shine through.
As the show developed I did get stuck in a few ruts, especially after having created the first batch of type pieces. I didn't want the show to become preachy or feel like a self-help or motivational series, and was conscious of pushing too far into that space. So to get out of it I did have to step away at times and look from a different viewpoint. This is when I delved back into my sketchbooks from the lockdowns and found some more abstract artwork ideas I was working on at the time, such as the 'Into the Twilight' series which was a reaction to the lockdowns inspired by the poem by W.B. Yeats. It talks about the world being in a time of darkness but soon opening up again to the light and I felt that this nicely tied into the theme of connection, but from a different angle. It's added a bit of variety to the show, which has nicely mixed up this large body of work and helped it from being too one note.
Photos: Jon Aaron Green
The exhibition seemed to tie all these threads together in the room, using different scales, even down to the playlist and specially designed beer labels. Can you tell us more about the installation decisions and how that came together?
I felt that the show was a nice opportunity to bring together everything I've learnt over my career, from the small scale intricate hand-cut illustrations, up to the large installation projects. Also a chance to incorporate my interests and inspirations, such as my music tastes through the playlist, as well as dipping back into my design routes through the exhibition catalogue, and also celebrating future collaborators through the Perivale Brewery beer labels who we plan to team up with further.
Scale has always been something I’m aware of when working on installations or visiting galleries. So I felt that it would be fun to try and push that in this show, having a range of sized artworks on show, as well as the large wall installations which take it up a notch further. This has also allowed me to play with different techniques, with each sized piece needing a slightly different approach, moving up from light paper stocks and delicate designs in the smaller intricate pieces, to heavyweight card and bold details in some of the larger artworks and then handcut board and printed wall vinyl for the wall installations.
There were still some ideas that didn't quite make it into the show, but in the lead up we realised that we'd already pushed things as much as we needed, possibly even further than necessary – when laying out the space I realised that I'd created more work that we could actually comfortably exhibit! But it’s always good to leave something on the plate for next time.
Photo: Jon Aaron Green
And finally, can you tell us more about why you chose to support the charity, Arts Emergency, through artwork sales?
At a time when social funding is being cut and the arts are being squeezed out of schools, charities like Art Emergency are ever more important. Co-Founded by Josie Long, Arts Emergency support children from underrepresented backgrounds to get the foot up they need to become part of the creative and cultural industry. It's a wonderful mentoring and support network who I've supported in the past with the sales from my previous San Francisco solo show 'Observations from the Unknown'. They were so enthusiastic and the funds were put to such good use that it felt like a perfect place to team up with again for this show, especially now that they have a hub in Brighton. I really hope they're able to grow even further and set up more sites around the UK!
Photo: Jon Aaron Green
The artworks are all available to buy, with a proportion of sales going to Arts Emergency, a charity who help support young people from low income families and aim to break down the barriers to entry in the arts and humanities.
About Owen Gildersleeve
An expert in hand-crafted illustration and set design, Owen’s creations are carefully constructed from paper in a variety of scales. His bold and graphic works make use of light and shadow, and hand-rendered typography, for clients including Ninja Tunes, Vanity Fair and NASA.
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