The following excerpt is from a recent interview about my artistic process by Bridget Bekikg from the Kent MA Curators team at the University of Kent School of Arts. The interview will form part of a group project currently in the works. More will be revealed in a few weeks time. These accompanying images are from a live painting session I did last month in Margate with the talented b.supreme dancers from Brixton, London.
Bridget: The nature of your work is an ongoing process. What value does motion have in your work? And how does it relate to still pieces?
Rachelle: To me, without motion, there is no life; motion kind of equals living. So everything that is life moves, pretty much. But then if you think about it, even death is movement because when you die, you’re decomposing. That's active. There’s a constant movement going on. And then after that, when there is nothing, then all the invisible particles are moving around. So what I mean is... there’s no place without any movement so where is there stillness?
Actually, I think it’s an illusion. There is no stillness really. But stillness in our language means quietness or it means stopping. Stillness and motion are very fundamental to my work because I’m practising Japanese brushwork. It conveys present-ness through depicting space, there is something about that depth. When you look at Japanese calligraphy work, in traditional calligraphy you find a 3D depth that draws you in and keeps you calm. Or, it can also make you dance, so it has a very powerful aesthetic....
But it comes from a practice of stillness because on the basis of this lies the way the Japanese calligraphers learn their craft. They learn through practising meditation and doing certain repetitive movements over and over again. It’s the mental and spiritual training that keeps them still. And then, in that frame of mind, they move the brush....
It’s very important what motivates the work or what drives the work. But you know, I’m still working on how to clarify it all. So please ask me this question again 20 years later and I will tell you more then.
Bridget: How do you go about choosing a subject (for your work)?
Rachelle: Well, I think it’s more like the subject chooses me. It is like a subject chooses you and then it bites on to you and never lets go. I am interested in certain things and it just carries on; even now, 20 years later. Basically my main themes are still based on the idea of space.
I’m very interested in anything to do with a state of space, the philosophy of space. And you know space is limitless because when you go into space you’ve also got nothing. You can go into nothingness as well. I mean, I can be totally occupied for the rest of my life, it’s just something that I became passionate about and then I’ve stayed with it.
Rachelle: Well, I think it’s more like the subject chooses me. It is like a subject chooses you and then it bites on to you and never lets go. I am interested in certain things and it just carries on; even now, 20 years later. Basically my main themes are still based on the idea of space.
I’m very interested in anything to do with a state of space, the philosophy of space. And you know space is limitless because when you go into space you’ve also got nothing. You can go into nothingness as well. I mean, I can be totally occupied for the rest of my life, it’s just something that I became passionate about and then I’ve stayed with it.
There is one more thing. Recently I’ve done some artworks that are not a regular thing for me as they’re more politically driven. The current world situation has got me so worried and my friends' anxieties also affect me. And so I decided to make some works to try to express those feelings.
Certain circumstances will affect my work, but generally I have certain themes, and I stay with them pretty consistently and as much as I can through the years.
Certain circumstances will affect my work, but generally I have certain themes, and I stay with them pretty consistently and as much as I can through the years.
*Interview with Artist Rachelle Allen-Sherwood
by Bridget Bekikg University of Kent MA Curators Team / 6 June 2017
*Note: All edits and corrections were made by Rachelle
