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C Corfield
Interview by Alessandra Asciortino
extracted from 'Jazz Colours' magazine published in November 2007.
You attended the Fine Art University: did you study
practice there?
Yes I studied many aspects of art and this included
practical exploration in of different mediums and colour and concepts. It was
during my degree that I became interested in particular artists such as Miro and
Kandinsky.
Why did you decide to take a Master in Art
Management? Are you the manager
of yourself?
I wanted to take a degree in Arts Management to give me
the business skills required to work within the arts sector as well as working
as an artist. It has certainly been useful in managing my own work particularly
the marketing, financial and legal aspects of working as a self promoting
artist.
You said that Mirò, Kandinsky, Picasso,
Renoir and Van Gogh inspired you the most. It is not difficult to identify Mirò's lines, Kandinsky's colours and
geometry and some human features of Picasso, but what about Van Gogh and
especially Renoir? Maybe they influenced your other works rather than musical ones.
I like to experiment with different styles and consider
myself to be influenced by all of these artists. The styles I adopt to express
musical influence work well for me particularly in my jazz work. I am always
working on my practise and trying to improve and change what I do. I hope this
can be seen in the range of work I have produced over the last few years. I’m
not sure if I will ever develop one particular style and stick to it. I believe
my life as an artist is a journey and I’m never sure where it will take me.
Since you
travelled a lot - Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, China - which
experiences, both human and artistic (they are sometimes inseparable), have
you made? The East fascinates in a singular way…
Some things run through all people wherever they are in
the world, the love of music is one such thing. Art is another, where ever I
went I found people enjoying music. Music crosses cultural and geographical
boundaries and I saw this time and time again during my travels, whether at a
full moon party in Thailand or a Karaoke Bang in Korea or the Jazz Club I found
in Hanoi, I had been trapped in Hanoi for a few days awaiting process of my Visa
for China and one evening by chance I found this jazz club and enjoyed a great
evening listening to local Jazz musicians including owner of the club playing
some fantastic music. ) I met many fantastic people from different countries,
often we did not share the same language but we interacted and communicated as
people sharing moments. I learned many things about the strength to be found in
our similarities as well as the strength to be gained from our differences and
that both are equally important.
I found Cambodia particularly moving because the
resilience of the people following the fairly recent atrocities and the warmth
of people’s hearts despite all this. I found Cambodia to be a spiritual place
exuding tremendous warmth, which gave me, renewed faith in humanity. I feel I
have borrowed some of that strength and resilience and applied it to my life as
an artist. This is one reason why I like to paint bright colourful paintings
that create positive feelings for the viewer and hopefully make them happy.
I also met Lebanese artist Wajhie Nahle whilst in China
and spent the day sharing ideas about art and techniques. He made me realised
that I would need to practise and practise and focus on one medium and try to
master it.
What is your own
relationship with jazz?
At school I studied dance and became
interested in Jazz from a performance art perspective because certain types of
jazz such as hard-bop, Latin and fusion et al allow you to be really
expressive and creative in dance. Aside from this I suppose I always thought
Jazz was one of those inaccessible genres of music reserved for wealthy
listeners and talented musicians. This misconception changed in 2001 when I went
to over to Holland with some friends to the North Sea Jazz festival. I saw many
amazing performances covering a wide range of jazz based music over those few
days including Shakti, Bugge Wesseltoft, McCoy
Tyner. I think this really opened my eyes to
the vibrancy and colorfulness’ of Jazz and also opened doors in terms of my
awareness of the variety and of jazz music available to me. I think it is
difficult to know what is out there unless you are actually introduced to music
by somebody or something, which in my case was the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Is it right to talk about a party climate in your music paintings?
Most definitely, I focus a great deal
on the party atmosphere created by music and try to bring the human energy of a
party and the tempo and feel of the music into most of my paintings. Duet for
example is more reflective of the clarity and solitude of a violin duet where as
Lady Jazz has a more fun, colourful feel representing the music I imagined when
painting. Similarly with ‘Indie Rock’ I tried to emulate the power and rock
attitude of music associated with the indie rock movement.
Feel fee to email me and i will send you the
original e-zine magazine.
August 2007
A company in Netherlands
are using 'City traffic' as a logo for a 2007 congress event.
The painting was bought by the company with copyrights and will be used as a
logo of a congress in November for architects and designers on air quality,
vibrations and noise reduction The logo will be used in addition to articles in
some design, building and architecture magazines and the companies own
promotional material.
I will be selling some of my smaller works at the Mosaic Arts Market on the 9th
September. Mosaic is an exciting project that supports arts and crafts
practitioners in Leeds. It is a multicultural arts and crafts market with
exhibition space and will soon become an online directory for artists. If people
wish t view any of my work please contact me and I will take the painting to the
market for you to view and purchase.
For more information on the market visit -
http://www.mosaic-arts-market.org/
Mosaic Arts and Crafts Market can be found behind the Corn Exchange in
Chancellors Court, just between Cafe Rouge and The Townhouse
Pictures Below - Mosaic Arts Market September 2007
June 2007
Holmfirth artweek ended. The event was very
successful and a total of £31,000 was raised through art sales, tickets and
catalogues , refreshments and raffles. All funds were donated to the Macmillian
Cancer charity. Well done to all the volunteers who organised and helped at the
event. I'm looking forward to next year! For details on next years event the go
to the main website http://www.lingua-uk.com/holmfirth/
Patchings art event was
equally as successful bringing in lots of follow up sales and interest in my
artwork. The thousands of visitors to the event made it a record. Next years
date is Thursday 5th and Sunday8th June. You can see the exhibitors on the main
website,
http://www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk/onlinegallery/exhibition2007/index.php
May 2007
A radio station in
Mexico are using 'Red Hot Sax' painting for their new jazz radio station. The
painting will be the logo on their website for the radio station Jazz Motif. I
will post details of it once they have finalised their new website.
I have just been
accepted into the Patchings Competition/Exhibition. Jazz Jam and Chello Heaven
were accepted by a panelled jury and will feature in the National Art Festival
in Nottingham June 5th to 5th July. There will be over 15,000 visitors to this
exhibition so I am really happy to have been one of the successful entries.
According to the organisers, the exhibition promises to be an outstanding one
and will be shown at Patchings Art Centre, Oxton Road, Calverton,
Nottinghamshire. The opening of the exhibition runs concurrently with the 14th Patchings Art, Craft and Design Festival. It's one of the UK's most celebrated
art and craft festivals. www.patchingsartcentre.co.uk
Just got a place at the Holmfirth Art Week that promises over 20,000 visitors in
the week. Each artist can exhibit two works each. Hopefully it will be a good
sales week!
artWEEK
is now a local event with a national reputation – most of
the exhibitors are from this area but visitors come from all over the country to
look and to buy. It is astounding how much artistic talent there is locally – it
is this that makes the event such a success . . . and brings so many visitors to
Holmfirth every year.
The main Exhibition in the Civic Hall runs all week and features work by around
400 professional & amateur artists.
In addition, each year, there are over 20 smaller
fringe venues around the Valley.
See website for
more details
http://www.lingua-uk.com/holmfirth/
April 2007
I just got a stand on the Harrogate Art Fair on the bank holiday weekend. (Thank-you
to the person who dropped out and to the artist Phil Wilson who put me in touch
with the event co-ordinator) I am REALLY looking forward the event. It's at
Valley Gardens if you want to come along. I've also just got an exhibition at the Leeds Infirmary
Hospital in October. Over 100ft of space!!! I also bagged myself some wall space
for a month at the Carriageworks Theatre in October! The spaces are for a month
so hopefully will drum up some interest. I really need to work faster!
Pictures Below - Addingham Exhibition March 2007
  
C
Corfield
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