20/20 New Beginnings

20/20 Collaboration #1  Mia Kukathasan & Rachelle Allen-Sherwood 2020

My goodness it has certainly been awhile since my last post! So many things have happened but the good news is I'm back and very happy to be here.  As this is also a new year, let me wish everyone a belated but happy and safe 2020.

To start the ball rolling, I've begun a new project, temtatively entitled "20/20". The aim is to complete and exhibit twenty collaborations by the end of this year while continuing to build up my studio work. Collab #1 was achieved late January at a lovely gallery called hARTslane. As part of their Italian residency exhibition, "Passaggiatina London"  I teamed up with sound artist Cleaver Boi (Mia Kukathasan) and we performed a piece depicting an improvisational dialogue between mark making and sound creation. (See finished result above) To view a short video of our performance, please click here. Our collaboration was brief but revelatory.. I now look forward to exploring more possibilities working with sound in the future.

Matthew working on collage at Tate Modern

 In February, I joined painter Matthew Randle at the Tate Modern to discuss Collab #2. As luck would have it, Tate was hosting a family activities event so we spontaneously joined in! We selected the collage activity as it was the least crowded and got busy creating work from cuttings, torn magazines and the myriad bits and pieces scattered around the room. The only downside was, we weren't allowed to paste anything down or take the work home! Everyone had to cut and lay out their compositions sans glue. A staff member would then come over, take a photograph and give a printed photo copy to the participant.....? Wha?? Whatever.

20/20 Non deliberation  M.Randle & R.Allen-Sherwood  Feb 2020

Matt and I spent most of the afternoon intensely absorbed, creating both individual and collaborative work. Here are two examples of the latter.The first collage was deliberately made with no plan, no intention and absolutely no attempt at composing. We tried but it was hard. What I learned in the end is that deliberately not composing is also a form of composition. We were being intentionally unintentional. It was an interesting exercise but we probably won't do that again. At least not together.

20/20 Then thoughtfully  M.Randle & R.Allen-Sherwood  Feb 2020

  The second collage was made 2 hours later but this time we did the opposite. We thought everything out carefully and discussed it beforehand. We laid pieces out and moved them about. In the end it all came together quickly despite the onerous process. All in all, it was a great, if exhausting experience. I learned a lot, as this was my first time to make collages. And Matt's a great collaborator. Shame about not being able to take work home but at least we have the photo evidence. And the memories.

See you next time!