Mark Hayes-Westall

Mark ran infamous lifestyle magazines Gspot in the early 90’s switching to the web in 95. He set up the award winning digital agency Hard Reality in 95 working for Diesel Jeans, Levis and Campaign magazine and winning the first ever Cyber lion at Cannes. Hard Reality were bought in 98 by Leo Bunett and Mark ran their digital division for 4 years working for Kellogg’s, Mc Donalds, P&G, Phillip Morris and Disney .

Now Mark is Creative Director at FAD and Runs FADpress who’s clients include Louis Vuitton, Absolut and 100% design where he produces Despoke.com .

Contact: Mark@FADemail.com

Marcin Zieba

Marcin comes from Poland. He has traveled through out Europe and has lived in most Western European countries. He has freelanced for several agencies, preparing campaigns for Red Bull, Smirnoff and Playstation. He also worked for TV and radio stations in Holland and Germany where he broadened his media experience.

In 2006 while living in UK, Marcin met Mark Westall. Since then he’s been art directing FADwebsite and now also looks after the art direction for Despoke.com and is the director for most fadteevee output.

He is also co-owner of Polish Digital a digital creative agency which he runs with Mark Westall.

Contact: Marcin@FADemail.com

Chantelle Purcell

Chantelle Purcell is a visual artist and writer based in London, currently studying a MA in European Arts Practice at Kingston University. Chantelle’s interest lies in exploring the ephemera that surrounds an exhibition and how this can be used to educate, promote interaction and build networks. Believing the exhibition should be thought of as more than the ‘physical staging’ she considers how the archive holds importance. Chantelle has helped to run the artist’s-run space Core Gallery in Deptford where she now co-ordinates and writes a series of indepth interviews with artists and curators.

As a practising artist her interest lies in sound and performance art exploring; the role of the documentation, authenticity within participatory works and how the ‘immaterial’ can be represented.
coregalleryinterviews.blogspot.com

Ben Austin

Ben literally grew up in the art business, his mother being owner of the The Catto Gallery in Hampstead. He took the art scholarship to Clifton College, Bristol and went on to study Art History at Degree level at Reading University.

He is currently the Director of Fluff PR, an art and fashion based events and publicity Company. Fluff has worked with leading West End galleries as well as staging independent exhibitions. Ben has been a contributor to FAD website for a couple of years and writes reviews, catalogues text and covers the international art fairs.

Kay Roberts

Kay is back in London after 10 years in Paris, where she reviewed art shows for Vingt.Paris & site specific work for Art&ArchitectureJournal. In the 70’s she was part of Coracle & in 1978 began publishing new exhibitions of contemporary art listings, eventually developing the web site before leaving for France in 2003. She has an MA in Interactive Multimedia RCA/LCC & did a Churchill Travel Fellowship in the U.S.A., looking at gallery archival systems. In between studies she ran Actualites, a project based in Docklands, curated shows in London & Italy, worked for Art in America & Journal of Art N.Y. and has continued making her own photographic work. She is currently writing a 30 year history of the London gallery scene using her archive.

Laura Bushell

Laura is fascinated by images that move and has written about cinema and contemporary art (especially video art) since 2000. She has an MA in History of Film & Visual Media from Birkbeck and divides her time between sitting in front of interesting films, interviewing artists and making her own art in video and drawing. Her work in all its forms can be found on www.laurabushell.com

Nicola Anthony

Nicola is a London based artist and art writer seeking to create and discover things which make the mind crackle. She exhibits internationally and has received exhibition sponsorship from Tate Britain, and exhibited at both Tate Modern and Serpentine Gallery’s Project Space.

Fascinated by language and stories, her work explores the way we read meaning into words & artworks. She is inspired by uniqueness, maps, collections of all sorts, polka dots, microscopic imagery & literature.

Catch @Nicola_Anthony on twitter, her website, or her artist’s blog

Roman Kripko

I started my journalistic career at the age of 12 when I wrote a piece on bikers subculture for the Soviet youth newspaper called Pieneers’Truth. The text was censored to such an extent that I decided to choose different ways to channel my urge to change the world, suddenly I found myself studying the principles of nuclear bombs in one of Russia’s semi-military engineering units. However now I am back on track in journalism and the arts, having written about architecture and art for ten magazines and curated a couple of exhibitions.

Rachel Bennett

Rachel grew up in Liverpool, first broaching the north / south divide for a degree in English at Oxford where she made her first foray into writing with student journalism. Making the move to London this summer, she is trying her hand at more things than she has time for. Currently working for a lifestyle PR agency she’s also moonlighting doing as much as she can art, music or culture related.

Contact: Rachel@FADemail.com

Lee Sharrock

Lee Sharrock is Global Creative PR for Saatchi & Saatchi, and PR Director of the Scream Gallery. Lee runs Lee Sharrock PR, a PR and Project Management consultancy for creative industries and individual artists. She is also a curator and co-Founder of ‘Watch This Space’. Lee is a contributing writer for Art India, Kilimanjaro, Candy Magazine and Whitehot Magazine. She graduated from UCL and Bologna University in History of Art and Italian, and has worked at Sotheby’s, the ICA and Timothy Taylor Gallery.

Tory Turk

Tory Turk is a fashion and art curator, stylist and writer who, after her degree in Media and Cultural Studies, went on to do an MA in Fashion Curation at The London College of Fashion. Tory has worked on a variety of art and fashion exhibitions and events in London and internationally. She is responsible for the archival of James Hyman’s magazine collection. 

Contact: Tory@FADemail.com

Holly Howe

Holly Howe is a freelance journalist who writes for various publications including RWD, House (published by the Soho House group) and the Irish Examiner. She also works as a communications manager for a charity in London and does strategic communications consultancy for art organisations as well as independent artists. She runs the Culture Vultures, a networking group for people in media and the arts. She can also be found tweeting at www.twitter.com/hollytorious and in her occasional spare moments, she posts on her blog www.postcardsfromholly.blogspot.com

Chantal Menard

Chantal Menard is a fine artist, who has an active presence in the L.A. art scene. Chantal is considered to be a muse among some of today’s leading artists, and is a highly recognized subject matter.

Chantal plays piano, writes poetry, curates art shows, and designs unique jewelry from bones and ephemera. You can contact her via the major social networking sites, as well as through her website.

chantalmenard.com
twitter.com/chantalmenard

Virginie Picot

V is an actress and painter, her artwork has been described as visceral, striking, and emotive. She is currently booked to star in a feature film later this year directed by Mohamed Fekrane. She is now also contributing to FAD website interviewing artists she feels inspired by or is collaborating with.

V will be the editor of FADLA following her move to Lalaland in September….more on that later.

You can contact her on V@FADemail.com

Jareh Das

Jareh Das is a young curator based in London. She just graduated from the MA Curating Contemporary Art course at London’s Royal College of Art and her interest lie in contemporary performance, sound art and post-American war drawing. She is currently working on a series of curatorial projects in London looking at votive objects, immortality and performance art, explored by emerging UK and international artists.

artistesonly.blogspot.com/

Infinity Bunce

Infinity Bunce graduated from an MA at Central St. Martins in 1999, she is both an artist and curator. She has curated large-scale shows across London. She has shown her artwork extensively both in the UK and abroad for example she has shown with the Vegas Gallery, London, International Photographic exhibition Bejing, China. Travelling light – WW Gallery – Venice Biennale, Fish out of Water Gallery, California , USA. Sponsors have included Celia and John Bonningham- Christies Charitiable Trust, Creative Buisness Enterprize London. Welsh Arts Council, exhibition award.She has also collabrated with high profile organisations such as the CDC Centre, Atlanta, USA- on ther virus and bacteria paintings. Her projects have been featured in many press publications such as Elle Magazine and The London Newspaper.

Her work compasses many aspects of subject matter from the ordinary every day person made into some thing extra ordinary to painting images of celebrities. Her use of materials is far ranging from painting on MDF board to canvas to cardboard. She is seen as a contemporary urban artist. She not only identifies with street artists but also sees herself as a process painting. Infinity has received many sponsors and awards. Check out www.infinitybunce.co.uk

Infinity uses elements of Urban Art in a fine art way from her portraits will splatters and drips to images of young people on cardboard. She has shown alongside both the fine arts and street artists both curating her own shows and being in curated shows. She is equally comfortable in both worlds and she has made every effort to marry to two art worlds together. Enough so to set up her own new website of www.urbancurations.com

Naomi Richmond-Swift

Naomi Richmond-Swift is Associate Publisher of TATE ETC. magazine at Tate Gallery. A graduate in English Literature from Kings College London, she joined Tate after having worked on PR for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Turner Prize, via a short detour into the world of medical studies.

She is passionate about all things graphic; from book and product design to pencil drawing, street art and architecture, and her favourite art experiences are ones that manipulate and frighten the viewer.

She writes about art, design, and club culture, and runs the music blog www.onefromthevaults.co.uk

Sian Gray

Sian is a native Londoner who is constantly seeking an outlet for her creative musings and artistic obsessions. She has a degree in English Literature and History of Art from the University of Birmingham, where she was also the Arts editor for Redbrick newspaper. She has a head filled with words and images. Sian currently works for a design PR agency in North London and divides her time between exploring pop up events, attending slam poetry nights and soaking up the cultural delights of the city.

Laura Liliyana-Raffaella Cogoni

The tree has entered my hands,
The sap has ascended my arms,
The tree has grown in my breast -
Downward,
The branches grow out of me, like arms.

Tree you are,
Moss you are,
You are violets with wind above them.
A child – so high – you are,
And all this is folly to the world.

Rob Jones

Rob is a digital creative from N. Wales. Having studied Software Engineering then Design and Art Direction in Manchester, he now spends his spare time exploring London, travelling, sometimes creating but mostly viewing and writing about art.

He works at POKE London, where he helped make the 100 Project happen, a charity art auctioning site, designed to help put children through The Prince’s Drawing School.

He says “hello”. @bait_ball