It's All Pollocks!

Croquet, by Rachel Louise Brown, exhibiting at Blank Canvas

What do get if you cross an arty 18-year-old; one of the coolest streets in London and the internet? A load of Pollocks!

Josef Valentino,  former student at Tiffin Grammar School ( he’s just completed his ‘A’ Levels at home  after dropping out from school in March ) has created a community called Pollocks, (a play on the word ‘bollocks’ as in that’s what many think of modern art – but  also an homage to that great modern artist Jackson Pollock )  of young, emerging artists who are just itching to promote and share their work. Now, this community have their first exhibition Blank Canvas, a celebration of a new artistic community,  creativity, collaboration and participation– with original contributions from Annie Lennox, Marc Quinn, Levi Palmer and Rankin -  at Carnaby Street Gallery, curated by Valentino himself and the Pollocks posse.
Loma-Ann Bonner caught up with him, and confirmed – if confirmation were needed – that the barriers between the arts are being torn down and that there’s a new generation of refreshing,  non-elitist, open and exciting artists and ideas ready to challenge the old-school stuffy brigade and lead the way into the arts of the future.

How did you come up with the idea for Pollocks?
I thought that going out was quite basic : always just a club or bar. I wanted an event. So I had the idea create a ‘blank canvas’ where  clubbers could create and collaborate on a painting.
I thought that I’d create a blogspot, advertise the night, I’d find a location and then people would come, But that all got a bit messy… I couldn’t find a location and there were so many rules. But the blogspot started doing really well.

Artists submit their work to the blog, don’t they?
Yes, I created a Sketchbook on it for artists to submit stuff.

How many submissions to you get per week?
It really varies… sometimes 500, sometimes three.

And do you publish everything?
No, there is an editing process. I want people to want to have their work shown. If it’s too accessible there’s no standard.

It’s quite a leap from a blog to an exhibition on Carnaby Street! How did that happen?
I was walking down Carnaby,  and the gallery space had this red chair in it and I thought.. I’d love to know what’s going on in there. So I made a few phone calls and got through to Sister ( who do the PR for Carnaby .)  They loved the idea of Pollocks doing an exhibition there, so they approached Shaftesbury, who own the area.

How did they receive it at first?
I had to go to this terrifying board meeting and present the idea. I think they though.. hmmm, he’s 18. But they loved it, though.

Getting the likes of Annie Lennox to contribute is no mean feat.
I’m fortunate  to know her daughter, Lola, so I wrote to Annie telling her all about Pollocks and asked her to submit something, which she did.

And Marc Quinn?
He was really nice, although he didn’t know what I was on about at first. He asked me to facebook his step- daughter Tiger, and explain it to her, then she could tell him! He then invited me to his studio and painted something for the exhibition.

Rankin?
He was the cherry on the ice-cream. I spoke to his PA, Alisa and I was really shy, I felt I was being cheeky. But she was great and he contributed the image of the cat paws.

How many submissions did you have for the exhibition?
So many. Part of the process was using submissions from the blog and also we approached artists and went round the final shows. We’ve got artists from Foundation through to MA, from Wales to Essex.

Why are you doing this?
For me everyone should know who someone like  Marc Quinn is. I thought this was trivial knowledge, but 80 per cent of people, and my core friends included, don’t have a clue, and they should….

How do you think the exhibition will be received?
There’s been something organic about the show, and I’ve turned into the curator – which people spend 30 years training for. But, no-one can knock me down as this is my first time directing a show.

What do you think about the art world as it is now?
There’s such a cross-over : art’s not just art any more… fashion and art do collide, for example. It’s an archaic idea that artists can just do one thing. Creative freedom is the thing. There are no more barriers and everything goes.
We can even have a busker playing at the launch!

Pollocks London presents Blank Canvas at Carnaby Street Gallery, 1-2 Carnaby Street, London, W1, 27th June until 5th July, 11am- 7.30pm daily, Admission free. More info www.carnaby.co.uk

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