POPULAR PARAPHERNALIA IN WESTERN CULTURE GETS KITSCH & COLOURFUL: AN INTERVIEW WITH MAGDA ARCHER

1. Give us a brief insight into your upcoming exhibition Well Listen! Who Cares ? at Jealous? 

Well listen! Who cares? is a show about modern life: the internet, friends, families, dogs, the daily grind.....all the highs & lows plus the banalities, in reality it is my life over the past few years.

2. How did you initially come up with the idea to combine kitsch vintage images with elements of popular western culture ?

I just don't think it was ever as planned out as that. I suppose I just paint things & words that appeal to me.

3. Describe a real-life situation that inspired you.

That could be anything & everything. I'm drawn to everyday absurdity, things people say & do, silly newspaper stories. I can find inspiration anywhere.

I made a painting called Shut up for a bit. I'd got on a train from London to Manchester, I was extremely tired and looking forward to a nap. Unfortunately, a couple got on and the lady talked non-stop the whole way, just nonsense, and I was feeling….well, bang goes my sleep sort of thing.....plus why did she need to fill in all the gaps?

Also, this year my best friend died & I've noticed, in my print making anyway, that I want to make more upbeat pieces. I'm trying my best to shake off this over -whelming sadness.

" I'm drawn to everyday absurdity, things people say & do, silly newspaper stories. I can find inspiration anywhere."

4. Talk us through your typical creative process. 

It mostly starts with me scribbling down a few words on a scrap of paper that could be on my desk for months and months or maybe just a few days, or I might see a particularly inspiring image and tear that out from a newspaper. Sometimes I might just buy a lovely tube of paint and immediately want to paint with that colour. At the moment I have about 10 notebooks on the go, all with rough ideas for paintings or prints.

" Sometimes I might just buy a lovely tube of paint and immediately want to paint with that colour."

5. What are some of the lessons your learned since your first solo show Crazy Mad back in 2011 ? 

I've learnt some tough lessons. Firstly, the galleries I would like to show with don't necessarily like my work and probably never will. Plus, you can never stop pushing your own work which I find unpleasant & embarrassing. That people who genuinely like my pieces often don't have any money.

V.A.T. is a pain in the arse!

Don't buy cheap paint or the cheapest brushes if you can avoid it. 

Look after your brushes.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth and try to say yes to every show or group show you are offered. 

6. Tell us a little about your workspace. What is the strangest thing you have in your studio ? 

I have 2 workspaces. One larger in size that I use like a library and to store paintings...there's nothing wrong with it but I just haven't bonded with it. There is also my home studio which is smaller but I feel chilled in it and always ready to make things. I do have a massive collection of things but I don't really have any strange things but I do have too many musical instruments; a piano, 4 ukuleles & a glockenspiel.

Oh hang on, just looking around my studio, I see I have a little wooden box with the ashes of my dog, Albert, in it. I can’t decide where his final resting place will be so he will come with me when I go. I suppose some people would consider that quite strange.

7. What is the hardest thing about being an artist ?

The hardest thing is that I'm on a constant quest to connect with strangers, communicating through my work and this is pretty hit & miss you know? It also feels like my work will never be done and also that I don't fit in anywhere.

" The hardest thing is that I'm on a constant quest to connect with strangers, communicating through my work and this is pretty hit & miss you know? "

8. What is the ultimate goal of your artistic career ?  

That is too big a question for me at this time in the morning.

Magda Archer
Jealous Gallery