Leah Capaldi Catlin Art Prize Artist Number 4
1 If you weren’t an artist, what else would you be?
As a kid I always remember wanting to be either a paleontologist or an artist…I’m still pretty obsessed with Time Team so probably something to do with history…or maybe a musician, I just got a ukulele. It’s quite hard to play though, I have big hands.
2 Name 3 of your favorite artists.
Currently…
Santiago Seirra, Lindsey Seers, Marcus Coats and Thomas Hirschorn, can I have four?
3 What was the most intelligent thing that someone said or wrote about your work?
I don’t generally read the reviews, they put me off. Although I do remember an old tutor telling me to put my clothes back on, I started making better work after that.
4 Do you care what your art costs? State your reasons!
There are far easier ways of making money than being an artist. As soon as you start pricing your work and it pays for the gas bill you begin to feel like a vending machine. I’d rather my work cost nothing and be everything I want it to be than to be a highly priced, forced commodity. Money is handy but it isn’t everything.
5 What are the three big ideas that you would like your work to express? I’d like to substitute the word express for explore:
Authenticity
Performance and the role of the performance artist
Making work politically
6 How do you start the process of making work?
I do a lot of drawing first, usually on the top of buses or somewhere out of the studio. Then I film my ideas and test them out using an objective eye. Then I take it into the studio or out on the street, wherever it needs to be and I work from there.
7. What’s next for you?
Reaching wider audiences is the big one. I’d quite like to get some funding for a film I’m working on and have a good chat with Robin Klassnik too.
Leah Capaldi Biog
2008-2010 – MA Sculpture, Royal College of Art
2004-2007 – BA (Hons) Sculpture, University of Brighton
Exhibitions:
2011 New Contemporaries – London/Sheffield (FORTHCOMING SEPTEMBER)
The Hole – London (FORTHCOMING JULY)
The Catlin Art Prize 2011 – The Tramshed, London (FORTHCOMING MAY)
The King and The Minotaur – Wignall and Moore, London
GlueGun – The Hospital Club, London
2010 The Plaza Principle – Leeds Plaza, Leeds
EXPOSURE 2010 – Parasol Unit, London
London Lola – Kunstverein Familie Montez, Frankfurt
Young Gods – Charlie Smith, London
SHOW RCA – Royal College of Art, London
Park Night – Pump House Gallery, London
Unitary Structures – STEW, Norwich
Embrace RCA at ECA – Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Testing Ground : Live – 176/ Zabludowicz Collection, London
2009 Making Mistakes – Tim Pritchard, London
Sausage Nose – Kunsthochschule, Berlin
A Race Against Myself – Tim Pritchard, London
The Fifth Plinth – 145 Gallery, London
Summer Show – Royal College of Art, London
Making Mistakes – Paradise Row Gallery, London
Awards: 2010 Parasol Unit award
2009 Stanley Picker bursary
2006 Matt Stoaks prize for sculpture
Publications: The Catlin Guide 2011, Justin Hammond, Catlin Holdings ltd
www.artcatlin.com/
www.leahcapaldi.com
Juliette Losq Preview Number 1
Darren Harvey-Regan Preview Number 2
Russell Hill Preview Number 3
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