Amazing!

Artist Interviews for Love is the Law

Being the editor of Love is the Law, is not always as glamorous as people might like to think.  Obviously a lot of time goes into something as organised as a publication, but on the whole I feel incredibly lucky to be able to immerse myself in so much creativity.  At times it can feel oddly exploitative, even though it is a matter of "I scratch your back -- you scratch mine", doing this voluntarily leaves one feeling a little under par when it comes to seeking content.  We have been blessed, in that we personally know so many creative people; and seem to bump into them often enough to keep a constant supply of quality artwork and writing coming in.  The way i look at it, those contributors that are loyal and generous will be renumerated when the fruits of these labours bear out.  The plan is to go to print after we release one more issue online, so it would seem as though we are at least half way there.

Personally, I have discovered new dimensions to my repertoire as a writer.  I never would have thought i would be an 'interviewer' but by the looks of Issue 2, i am also the main interviewer for the magazine at this time.  It is not that I even really wish to be an interviewer, but that the magazine needs it.  As a result, I have been pushed to do something new and aside from the consumption of time that actually interviewing and transcribing can take, it has been a wholly enjoyable experience.

First we featured a Brooklyn based artist Jennifer Delilah who creates fantasy lands on canvas with such precision that you feel you are watching dreams come alive in paint.Look carefully enough and you will see Delilah's anti-authoritarian critique of society in the detail of her compositions.  Delilah's work is selling well and she is creating affordable miniatures alongside embroidered characters and even has a t-shirt line with her Satyr playing golf emblem (featuring Marques' silhouette).

Next I went to visit Hugo Grenville in Dalston's Chocolate Factory Studios.  With Hugo, i drew and we talked about the fragility of the human condition as represented by the vulnerability of the nude and need for the artist to let go of self-consciousness.  Reading his words, I can tell Hugo has something profound to offer the world and I am so pleased we could feature him.

The same day, I went to this grade I listed building in Euston to meet Wolfe von Lenkiewicz whose gargantuan exhibition of post-modern works is currently showing in Russia.  his father was the court painter to a King and Wolfe's whole thing is that "there is no such thing as an original artist".  He's a clever guy, studied philosophy, loves Kierkegaard and his works are really quite impressive, when he explains them to you. 

For me, being able to actually hear from the artist what the concept behind the piece is, really helps me to appreciate the art.  it makes me realise there is a place for people who can ask the right questions and dig beneath the surface in order to get at something essential about someone's art.  It might be a waste of time, but i certainly benefited and i Hope people enjoy looking at their works and reading what they have to say about them.

I suppose i should start compiling a portfolio of my interviews.

 www.loveisthemag.com

Hugo Grenville

Wolfe von Lenkiewicz

Jennifer Delilah

Studio time

The bluebells anticipate the leaves
of these summer trees
-- not quite sure of the season

And what look like yellowbells
and pinkbells pepper this lush, moist, foggy landscape
-- with the sound of dreaming

You swell in those pinstripes
Reading Dante and warming my feet
We pass a place called Reedham

And the tanoi tells us we are the wrong train.
Where will we end up tonight I wonder?
Heaven of Hell?

It's Okay (By Frooz)

Statutory Grapevine - It's Okay from émilie richard-froozan on Vimeo.

The impossible Dream (Joe Darion Via Luther Vandros)

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go.

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star.

This is my quest, to follow that star.
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far.

To fight for the right without question or pause.
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.

And I know if I'll only be true to this glorious quest
That my heart will be peaceful and calm when I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,
That one man scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage.
To reach the unreachable stars.

The colours of Summer

The sweet smell of honeysuckle
dances
and sings through the air

Sometimes we work so hard
to get somewhere
that when we get there
we're in pain

And the sun sets on the cool haze
descending
affluent hills

I sit with the River God a while,
Thanes.  He looked handsome
and lonely
Like the river

I capture the sunlight
& feel momentarily renewed.
The bliss comes like these bluebells
In annual hues

the brightest and boldest
transcendental blues.
It's the blues that have
caught me eye this year

Those deep
Intoxicating blues.
I mustn't look at them
too long!

Matthew Arnold's Sonnet To Shakespeare

Others abide our question. Thou art free.
We ask and ask--Thou smilest and art still,
Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,
Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty,
Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,
Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,
Spares but the cloudy border of his base
To the foil'd searching of mortality;
And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,
Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure,
Didst tread on earth unguess'd at.--Better so!
All pains the immortal spirit must endure,
All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow,
Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.