Jessica Voorsanger

Art, Celebrity & Star Trek with Artist Jessica Voorsanger

Filmmaker John Rogers interviews Voorsanger in her East London studio.

Women Making History

The new book by Profile Editions and Artichoke Trust, Women Making History: Processions The Banners‘, has just been released, 1 Sept 2020.

The book features the banners made for the Processions Event celebrating the anniversary of women receiving the vote in 1918. The even took place on June 10th 2018. Jessica Voorsanger was commissioned by The Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate to work with women to create a banner.

https://profileeditions.com/women-making-history-hb

JESSICA VOORSANGER, ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE ON THE STARSHIP ENTERPRISE

24 October – 6 December 2019

Opening Party: Thursday 24 October 6 – 8pm

This exhibition celebrates all six of the different Star Trek TV Series (Star Trek Original Series, Star Trek Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space 9, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek Enterprise & Star Trek Discovery). The exhibition includes a gallery-wide installation of bespoke wallpaper featuring the uniforms of the six series, watercolour and ink portraits of the main characters and large scale fabric collage paintings celebrating each series. More images will be put up soon….


School Gallery
Delta House Studios
Riverside Road
London SW17 0BA

Opening Times:
Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm
t: +44 (0)330 122 8661
e: info@schoolgallery.co.uk
© 2019 School Gallery

Close: Drawn Portraits

Close: Drawn Portraits

22 November 2018 – 3 February 2019

Private View Wed 21 November, 6-8.30pm

Curator’s tour 6.30-7pm

Mounira Al Solh, Frank Auerbach, Paul Cézanne, Virginia Chihota, Lucian Freud, Dryden Goodwin, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Horst Janssen, Claudette JohnsonMichael LandyMaria LassnigJoyce PensatoDeanna Petherbridge, Francis Picabia, Pablo Picasso, Paula RegoNicola TysonJessica Voorsanger and Clifton Wright

Jessica Voorsanger, The Ladies who Knit for Peace and their Favourite Artists, watercolour on paper 2018

 

Bringing together historic figures such as Ingres, Picasso and Hepworth, and recent and contemporary artists including Lassnig, Hockney and Landy, this exhibition reveals intimate encounters between artists and their subjects over the past 200 years. Remarkable drawn portraits, rarely seen, sit beside those made today, and demonstrate drawing’s enduring ability to bring characters to life.

Drawing creates the illusion of presence. Using precise lines, Picasso and Freud capture a posed subject, whereas Hockney catches his sitter unaware in a calligraphic flourish of ink. Portraits of family members by Cézanne, Auerbach and Goodwin convey the sense of an intimately unfolding situation through multiple, restless pencil or charcoal lines.

In self-portraits by Maria Lassnig and Nicola Tyson, evocative colours are used to express psychological states and bodily sensations. Landy, in contrast, conveys the demands of self-representation through spidery black lines that knit into staring eyes and a furrowed brow.

The individuality of Mounira Al Solh’s migrant and refugee subjects is captured through experiments with style and medium. Drawn on yellow legal pads, they evoke not only an illusion of presence, but act as a material reminder of the contemporary human condition.

 

Exhibition supported by The Tavolozza Foundation.

SUFFRAGETTE MARCH, 10 June 2018 [Still We Rise: Margate]

PROCESSIONS, SUFFRAGETTE MARCH, 10 June 2018 [Still We Rise: Margate]

On June 10th 2018, thousands of participants from all over Great Britain attended one of the large scale marches organised by Artichoke Trust and 14-18 Now! in London, Edinburgh, Belfast or Cardiff. From above the crowds of participants become green, violet and white stripes (all wearing scarves), the colours of the suffragette movement to celebrate 100 years of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement.

Artichoke Trust and 14-18 Now! Commissioned 100 artists all over Great Britain to create banners with diverse groups of women. Jessica Voorsanger was commissioned to work with a group of female participants at The Turner Contemporary in Margate to create one of these banners. The participants came from UCA (University of Creative Arts, Canterbury), POW! Thanet, Mencap, Wimbledon School of Art (University of the Arts, London) and other local artists. Over 6 weeks of workshops the group devised a large scale banner (with individual contributions from the participants), chanting phrases and costumes. Hence Voorsanger’s Posse of Protesters were formed!

Watch this space … Jessica Voorsanger will be leading a new procession on the 8th of March 2019 in Margate in association with POW! for International Women’s Day. POW! is a festival of Arts and Culture celebrating and exploring issues around Feminism, Women and Girls. If you [ladies and people who recognise themselves as ladies] would like to get involved contact POW! here.

Read about it here:

   

The project received a great deal of press, appearing on BBC London News, BBC Kent News, The Art Newspaper, The Guardian Newspaper amongst others … 

Here are some images from the event …        

 

The Secret to a Good Life, Royal Academy of Arts, video interview

The making of ‘The Secret to a Good Life’

Bob and Roberta Smith RA, Jessica Voorsanger and Etta Voorsanger-Brill discuss their collaborative project, The Secret to a Good Life. (4 September 2018 – 3 February 2019). This special project by Bob and Roberta Smith RA explores the story of women artists and the Royal Academy – through the lens of his own family history. Bob and Roberta Smith’s mother, the artist Deirdre Borlase, regularly exhibited in the RA’s Summer Exhibition. She thought she was more likely to be selected if she submitted works without her first name, to avoid giving away her gender.

Three new sculptures include This is Deirdre Borlase ARCA, 2018, by Bob and Roberta Smith RA and sculptures of the Academy’s female founders, Mary Moser RA and Angelica Kauffman RA, created by Smith in collaboration with his wife, Jessica Voorsanger, and their daughter, Etta Voorsanger-Brill.

“The secret of a good life is to get a good pencil: a 2B or a 3B, not an HB. HBs are for architects.”

Deirdre Borlase

Angelica Kauffman Sculpture (collaboration with Bob and Roberta Smith)

Angelica Kauffman Sculpture (collaboration with Bob and Roberta Smith) was made as part of THE SECRET TO A GOOD LIFE exhibition, The Ronald and Rita McAulay Gallery, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts (held 4 Sept 2018 – 3 Feb 2019)

This special project by Bob and Roberta Smith RA explores the story of women artists and the Royal Academy – through the lens of his own family history. Bob and Roberta Smith’s mother, the artist Deirdre Borlase, regularly exhibited in the RA’s Summer Exhibition. She thought she was more likely to be selected if she submitted works without her first name, to avoid giving away her gender. Members of Borlase’s family explore her story, and some of the other – sometimes strained – relationships between women and the Royal Academy over its history.

Three new sculptures include This is Deirdre Borlase ARCA, 2018, by Bob and Roberta Smith RA and sculptures of the Academy’s female founders, Mary Moser RA and Angelica Kauffman RA, created by Smith in collaboration with his wife, Jessica Voorsanger, and their daughter, Etta Voorsanger-Brill.

The sculpture of Angelica Kauffman, a collaboration with Jessica Voorsanger is covered in 15 portraits of women artists she is inspired by starting with Angelica Kauffman (as the head) to Mona Hatoum and Alice Neel amongst others.

Portraits     

The portraits of women artists on the collaborative sculpture are: Laurie Anderson, Sofonisba Anguissola, Sonia Boyce, Claude Cahun, Mona Hatoum, Frida Kahlo, Angelica Kauffman, Lee Krasner, Yayoi Kusama, Edmonia Lewis, Ana Mandieta, Alice Neel, Georgia O’Keefe, Lorna Simpson and Kara Walker.

               

Publication
The accompanying book Bob and Roberta Smith: The Secret to a Good Life explores the role of women artists, the sexism of the art world and the benefits of drawing every day. Find out more.

 

SECRET TO A GOOD LIFE, The Ronald and Rita McAulay Gallery, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts, London

SECRET TO A GOOD LIFE at The ROYAL ACADEMY 

4 September 2018 – 3 February 2019, free admission

This special project by Bob and Roberta Smith RA explores the story of women artists and the Royal Academy – through the lens of his own family history.

Bob and Roberta Smith RA’s mother, the artist Deirdre Borlase, regularly exhibited in the RA’s Summer Exhibition. She thought she was more likely to be selected if she submitted works without her first name, to avoid giving away her gender.

In this special project to mark the RA’s 250th anniversary, members of Borlase’s family explore her story, and some of the other – sometimes strained – relationships between women and the Royal Academy over its history. The display will include a selection of historic paintings by Deidre Borlase from the 1940-80s, as well as a portrait of her by her husband, Frederick Brill.

Three new sculptures include This is Deirdre Borlase ARCA, 2018, by Bob and Roberta Smith RA and sculptures of the Academy’s female founders, Mary Moser RA and Angelica Kauffman RA, created by Smith in collaboration with his wife, Jessica Voorsanger, and their daughter, Etta Voorsanger-Brill.

The sculpture of Angelica Kauffman, a collaboration with Jessica Voorsanger is covered in 15 portraits of women artists she is inspired by starting with Angelica Kauffman (as the head) to Mona Hatoum and Alice Neel amongst others.

The sculpture of Mary Moser is a collaboration with Etta Voorsanger-Brill and Bob and Roberta Smith. It is covered in Risograph printed fanzines which explores women in a patriarchal society and include Mary Moser’s work.

Publication
The accompanying book Bob and Roberta Smith: The Secret to a Good Life explores the role of women artists, the sexism of the art world and the benefits of drawing every day. Find out more.

 

Imprint 93 @Printed Matter in New York

An archive exhibition of the 90s’ collaborative mail art project

Printed Matter presents Imprint 93, an archive exhibition focused on the 90s collaborative mail art project conceived and carried out by Matthew Higgs. Originating at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2016, this presentation marks the first US showing of the project in its entirety, including many rarely-seen works and related ephemera. Please join us for an opening reception at Printed Matter on Friday, January 19, 6-8PM.

Join on Facebook here

On occasion of the exhibition, we’re pleased to present new photocopy editions by Jeremy Deller, Peter Doig, and Martin Creed (signed and numbered, edition of 50 each), as as well as a second printing of Elizabeth Peyton’s ‘Untitled’ Imprint contribution, a french-fold zine featuring video stills of Kurt Cobain performing in 1993. More details forthcoming – please email news@printedmatter.org.

Between 1993 and 1998, Matthew Higgs, artist, writer and current Director of White Columns, produced and distributed more than fifty works through his publishing project Imprint 93. An administrator at an advertising agency by day and influential curator by night, Higgs invited artists to create works of art that could fit inside an envelope to be distributed, unsolicited, by mail to an informal group of friends, artists, and curators. Financed by himself and printed on an office photocopier, Imprint 93 served as an ongoing curatorial project which did not necessitate a space, circumvented traditional art world structures, and offered a unique platform and network for artists to distribute their work.

The artists involved in Imprint 93 were often at the beginnings of their careers, working on the periphery of the then emerging ‘YBA’ movement. The exhibition features the work of Fiona Banner, Billy Childish, Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller, Peter Doig, Ceal Floyer, Stewart Home, Alan Kane, Hilary Lloyd, Paul Noble, Chris Ofili, Elizabeth Peyton, Bob and Roberta Smith, Jessica Voorsanger and Stephen Willats, among others. Imprint 93 was also closely linked to influential and emerging artist-centered initiatives such as London’s City Racing and Cabinet Gallery.

Highlights from Imprint 93 include Elizabeth Peyton’s Untitled (1995), made from a sequence of video-stills of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain performing in 1993, and Martin Creed’s Work no. 88 (1994), a crumpled ball of A4 paper that Higgs and Creed sent to the Tate Gallery but was returned to them, flattened inside an envelope, ‘rejected’ as an unsolicited donation.

Bringing together this rarely-seen collection of Imprint 93 editions in its entirety, the exhibition offers unique insight into a significant period in the development of the British art scene of the 1990s, and beyond.

This exhibition is co-organized by Whitechapel Gallery, London, and curated by Nayia Yiakoumaki with Matthew Higgs.

For more information please contact Keith Gray, Programming and Press Coordinator, at Keith@printedmatter.org

Venice Biennale 2017 – Jessica Voorsanger’s film Klingon Key Phrases included

EMPIRE II

La Biennale di Venezia 2017

13TH MAY – 26TH NOV 2017

CASTELLO 1610/A
RIVA DEI SETTE MARTIRI VENEZIA 3012

140 SHORT FILMS > 140 ARTISTS

Gavin Turk, Jessica Voorsanger, Sarah Sparkes, Fiona Banner, Cedric Christie, John Plowman, Spizz Energi, Lee Maelzer, Danny Pockets, Martin Creed, Ray Gange, Sarah Pager, Toni Gallagher, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Liz Sheridan, Julian Firth, Geraldine Swayne, SHUBY, Rebecca Scott, Pascal Rousson, Kerry Baldry Graham Tunnadine, Lauren Heckler and many more.

Empire II is an artist led project designed for forthcoming 57th La Biennale di Venezia.

Empire II are focused on creating a dedicated cinema hub space for artists and makers which will contain 3 separate areas and remain functional over a designated period of 7 months.

Room 1; Lounge/library as a quiet ambient reading area and a chill out zone + Room 2; movie screening space playing a selection of short art house lms specially created for this occasion and programmed on a continuous loop + Room 3; an immersive VR gaming space evolving as a spontaneous separate augmented reality point.

Exhibition will follow with a 160 page limited edition catalogue. We will host a number of intermediate events during our stay with and including participating artists and makers in form of presentations, talks and group discussions related to  making and associated topics.

Panel Discussion @Jerwood Gallery Hastings June 3, 2017

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Overlap – relationships, reputation and legacy of women artists

Saturday June 3, 2017 (11.30-12.30pm), Studio, Jerwood Hastings

Curators Day+Gluckman, authors of A Woman’s Place Project, will be in conversation with artist Jessica Voorsanger and Tate curator and art historian Carol Jacobi to discuss the complex relationship of a woman artist to her personal biography and relationships.  As two Jerwood exhibitions of women artists overlap, that of Jean Cooke and Eileen Agar, the panel will have an honest and frank conversation about the legacy of women artists and how their art is often overlooked in favour of their relationships to male artists.

Jessica Voorsanger’s art practice looks at the construct of self, often through humorous installations or performances to unpick popular and celebrity culture. Voorsanger has exhibited extensively internationally, and she also happens to be married to Patrick Brill (AKA the artist Bob+Roberta Smith).

Carol Jacobi is Curator, British Art 1850–1915 at Tate.  Her research is centred on nineteenth- and twentieth-century British painting, sculpture and photography. She has backgrounds in science and literature, preferring an interdisciplinary approach, and has a long term commitment to challenging the canon and looking at the legacy of overlooked women artists.

A Woman’s Place is a contemporary arts, heritage and education project where female equality provides the contextual backbone. A two year programme rolls out across the South East in 2017.  The project is funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, The National Trust and South East partners.  Other events across SE venues can be found at www.dayandgluckman.co.uk and significant new commissions at Knole House (National Trust), Sevenoaks, Kent in 2018.£10 (£8 for Jerwood Gallery Members)

For further information and to book tickets please click here
Image: Jessica Voorsanger, Claude Monet, from The Bald Series, 2013 by Jessica Voorsanger at Liberties exhibition 2016

Copyright © 2017 Day + Gluckman, All rights reserved.

Secrets & Lies (TATE Film Club)

Secrets & Lies

Tate Modern has had a long running film club, which over the past 10 years (+) has successfully explored themes surrounding London and its environs in relation to Tate. Initially created as a way to interact positively with the community, the group’s success has grown in audience and subject. As Tate embarks on a ‘new’ Tate with the opening of the extension in May 2016 this is the opportunity for the film club to also reinvent itself. For this initial start to the new season of film club viewings – Jessica Voorsanger has been commissioned to show 3 interlinked immersive film events exploring artists and their lives through the film sub genre of ‘docudramas’ also known as ‘biopics.’ Focusing on artists that have either shown or are in the collection of Tate. This will mark the bringing together of Tate Modern’s Film Club and Tate Britain’s Soapbox to work together to co-create events that engage with film (and their audiences) in alternative ways.

The 3 events will explore the ideas surrounding Secrets & Lies (the title being a reference to the Mike Leigh film of the same name). There will be 3 events (27 March, 22 May & 31 July 2017). These events will each explore the concept of the life (and/or culture) of one/or many artist(s) in three distinct ways. As through storytelling, especially within a ‘Hollywood’ drama scenario, the question of how much is actually true in the depiction of real life? Is anything exaggerated to make the story more engaging? As with documentaries, which we generally view as ‘truth’ can give a biased view of the director through the selection of interviewees and editing.

The1st event featured Frida Kahlo. The Salma Hayek film ‘Frida’ was aired. Aside from the film showing there was a quiz with questions associated with Frida Kahlo. The audience members were each given a ‘lucky bag’ which comprised of the elements to ‘dress up as Frida’ and a bespoke newspaper for the event. This first event was focussing on the ‘biopic’.

           

The 2nd event featured Pablo Picasso. The were three films aired: ‘Trimming Picasso’ (a docudrama by filmmaker Tim Newton), ‘Meeting Picasso’ (a documentary by filmmaker Tim Newton), and ‘Surviving Picasso’ (a docudrama starring Anthony Hopkins, the full feature was not aired). Aside from the films being shown there was an ‘In conversation’ between the filmmaker Tim Newton and Jessica Voorsanger. There was a quiz with questions associated with Frida Kahlo. The audience members were each given a ‘lucky bag’ which comprised of the elements to ‘dress up as a Picasso Cubist painting’ and a bespoke newspaper for the event. This second event was focussing on the differences between the biopic and the documentary.

The 3rd event will feature Peggy Guggenheim. The documentary ‘Peggy Guggenheim” Art Addict ‘will be shown. The focus of this event will be on documentaries. This event will take place in late July 2017.

The Trouble with Tribbles

The Trouble with Tribbles (named after the icon episode of Star Trek Original Series), was an interactive immersive experience offered at The Art Car Boot Fair, 2010. The participants were invited to experience the unleashing of zillions of ‘tribbles’ being poured on their heads, as Captain Kirk did in the episode aired in the 1960’s.

       

The Apathy Band

Jessica Voorsanger is the lead vocalist for the Apathy Band. The band recently released it’s first LP featuring Bob and Roberta Smith, Jessica Voorsanger, Leonardo Ulian, George Lionel Barker, George Cleghorn & Calvin Tsai in 2016. 

The band is the brainchild of contemporary artist Bob and Roberta Smith. The band has had many incarnations but this version has the experimental funk fusion sounds that George Cleghorn brings with saxophone, Calvin Tsai brings with his guitar, George Lionel Barker (also known from The Fucks) on piano, Leonardo Ulian on the Theremin and Jessica Voorsanger on spoken word.

The LP is available to buy on eBay while stocks last. The ‘A’ side of the LP is Bob and Roberta reading the text from his painting Letter to Michael Gove (as seen at The Royal Academy), his protest at the Conservative Party’s reconfiguring of secondary education which has had a detrimental effect on arts and humanities education. The ‘B’ side is the band performing their musical interventions.

Live Long and Prosper at Work Gallery (21st July to 16th September 2016)

Jessica Voorsanger’s solo exhibition Live Long and Prosper at Work Gallery, 10A Acton Street, London WC1X 9NG  from 21st July – 16th September 2016. There was also an ‘In Conversation’ with Jean Wainwright at the closing event on 14th September 2016.

LiveLong&Prosper

In Live Long and Prosper, Jessica Voorsanger is presenting a new series of paintings in which she imagines the paintings she would make if she were artist-in-residence on The Starship Enterprise.

Voorsanger’s established practice exploring issues surrounding popular culture and celebrity takes a radical departure in this new series of paintings juxtaposing vintage fabrics with toxic and vibrant colours. She refers to them as ‘painted collages’. The faded, patterned vintage fabrics in contrast with the vibrant poured and dripped paint locate the work in its questioning of what a sci-fi utopian future could hold.

Jessica: Oh hello Captain Kirk! What do you think of my new paintings?

Captain Kirk: Fantastic!

Mr.Spock: This cacophanous colour is not logical.

Jessica: Actually, I think you will find Mr.Spock that the melding of the patterned fabrics are indicative of the time period in which they exist. The bright poured and dripped paint is a reaction to what the potential futures could be.

Mr.Spock: Very interesting.

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