Kathryn Box chats to local artist Andrew Bracey about latest project Animalation
Your current exhibit at the Manchester Art Gallery is called Animalation. What was your inspiration for the project?
AB: I guess it was from when I was younger and I wanted to be a zoo keeper. A guy called Carl Hagenbeck in Germany made one of the first ‘no-cages’ zoos. I really likes this idea of a menagerie and animals roaming around, which is reflected in this particular exhibit. I like to be inspired by the things that are around me. If I am interested in something, I read loads on it and go from there. It’s a chance thing, what I could stumble across.
Who inspires you as an artist?
AB: I get my inspiration from both pre-renaissance and modern art. Historically, Fra Angelico was of most interest to me as he painted very striking and detailed frescos of monks. Although this may not resemble my art now, the idea of each thing being made for a specific space is of relevance to my current work. In modern art, I really like Maurizio Cattelan, who uses taxidermy to humanize animals. His work is a bit shocking, but it makes you think about what it means to be a human being.
You’ve had your work exhibited in London, Belgium and Minnesota. So what makes you come back to do so much work in Manchester?
AB: It’s my base. I did my MA at Man Met and found a really good bunch of people to share ideas with and we support each other. I have my studio in Salford, but I truly love Manchester. As Ian Brown once said, ‘Manchester has everything but a beach.’
How would you define art? And what would you say to the sceptics, aka many uni students, who thinks modern art is ‘pointless’?
AB: Art always reflects the time it is made in. If art stayed safe it would become stale and boring. Modern art pushes boundaries and the craft, hard work and time put into makes it is no less valuable, as a piece of culture, than the huge canvases by the Impressionists or Pre-Raphaelites. However there is a lot of bad modern art, but there are many bad nurses and bad cafes. With modern art the viewer has to invest time in it, to work it out, to understand what it means to them.
What made you become a lecturer, as well as an artist?
AB: During my MA, the lecturer always said art had to be politically and always have a meaning. As much as I agree with this, I think art has to be fun. I like to think of it as serious fun. An artist, like any good comedian, entertains you but you also, subconsciously, get an important message. Being a lecturer lets me explore young people’s ideas too. I could’ve just been a rich artist (laughs) but it’s really good to still be properly submerged in the art scene.
So, what’s next? Any future works in the pipeline?
AB: In Liverpool I plan to do a piece in the Royal Standard. It’s pretty scary for me as its going to be a big, permanent structure. It’s going to be kind of like a billboard, being taken over by something…It’s hard to explain… but it’s very exciting.
Review
4 stars
Andrew Bracey’s, 6 piece exhibit Animalation at Manchester Art Gallery could easily go unnoticed, seen only as an empty room. However wait 20 seconds and the whole gallery comes to life. In his studio in Salford Bracey used drawings, video and projectors to create a fresh portrayal of modern art interpreting it as his very own zoo. ‘Studio monkey’ is a CCTV-style video of a wall covered with the artists personal books, photos and magazine cut-outs, unmoving, until one of the pictures starts to stir and a tamarin monkey starts bizarrely watching you as the viewer. ‘Limbless Limbo’, an instillation on the floor of the gallery, houses the image of a felt-tip pen drawn snake weaving in and out of view. Although this piece might look like it’s drawn by the artist’s son that cleverly makes it as a simple, creative and intriguing piece of art. ‘Crawl’ an animated pink velvet worm crawling across a scrap piece of paper is unfortunately hidden behind the gallery window, which even to the most curious of viewers is hard to notice. A penguin inspired piece, ‘Humboldt’ is a rather absorbing piece; set in an archetypal gallery frame is an animation of playfully swimming penguins, which reflects the artist’s ideas of youth and freedom. On the other hand the idea of captivity is represented in ‘Hover’. A sketchy, but delicate doodle of a bird unable, restricted by paper, to swoop down on its prey and the spectator. The artist mainly uses projection for these 2 pieces, with obvious laborious hours invested in drawing thousands of pages in Indian ink to create rather hypnotic and vibrant pieces. The most fascinating piece is ‘Work and Play’, which looks as if a post-it note has been left of the wall of the gallery. This initially looks blank, however every once in a while the onlooker gets a glimpse of a spinner dolphin diving into view. It seems that Bracey wants to reward the people who actually think about his work. Most people go though galleries expecting art to be like a slap in the face, put on a plate in front of them to enjoy. However, Andrew Bracey wants you to slow down and to appreciate the smaller details. The artist has been fascinated with animals since he was young and this new exploration into flip-book techniques and animation is a very fulfilling one for the observer who is willing to stop, look and enjoy the humble nature of his work.
