The Flesh, The Earth, The Devil
A musician, a filmmaker and a painter; these three artists, collaborators and close friends, having exhibited at Electro Studios for several years now, return once more with new works.
Oli Spleen, Anatomical Self- Portrait. Acrylic on Canvas
Oli Spleen, Wolfgang Dubieniec and Mark Walter first bonded as friends in Brighton in 2019 when Oli was working on his album Night Sweats & Fever Dreams. Later, Mark relocated to the Hastings area, where Oli was born and grew up, and which Wolfgang called home. In 2023 the trio reunited and planned their first ever collaborative exhibition. That show, titled In Harm’s Way, ran for a weekend in the upstairs space at Electro Studios, in late September. November 2024 saw a follow-up exhibition in the larger downstairs studio space. Two years on, they return to the same rooms with new art and a show that runs for nine days called The Flesh, The Earth, The Devil.
Here is what they say about their work and their creative approach:
OLI SPLEEN:
“In 1999 I was diagnosed HIV-positive. Facing my mortality at the end of a second year’s BA in Fine Art and not wanting to live my last days within the education system, I dropped out of university and rejected visual art entirely in favour of writing and poetry. By the summer of 2000 I was hospitalised with AIDS-defining complications at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London.
“There, a doctor told me that I was within my rights to turn down the medication I was being offered and effectively end my life. At that moment I realised for the first time that I wanted to live. When my health slowly started to improve, I began work on a semi-autobiographical novel that was to be called Depravikazi.
“At the book launch in 2003, my first band, The Flesh Happening, was formed, and soon I was channelling all of my energy into songwriting. It wasn’t until 2005 when I first took steps to reconnect with visual art. The first painting, Prenez mon cœur, qu’il soit lavé! was an anatomical self portrait with the skin removed, reflecting my feelings of vulnerability and exposure.
“The majority of work in this exhibition was made this year, during which I’ve created more works than I have since the nineties.”
WOLFGANG DUBIENIEC:
“The work of mine that you see in this show largely revolves around the process of making Moth Wood, a short film produced entirely by hand over the past year.
Wolfgang Dubieniec, image from film Moth Wood
“This film became tied to its form and process during the making; it became eco-somatic. I found a way to hand-develop the celluloid that was original, meaningful to the materiality and the concept of my film, and also to me personally. Environmentally I produced a plant-based developer with nettles from Cornish woodlands near my home. Authorship is my own, but also that of the landscape and the living environment in which the work was made.
“Alongside this film, I present a second short film work in progress titled The Corselet, as well as sketches, paintings and prints which I produced and enlarged in the darkroom, and costumes by Ruby Small.”
MARK WALTER:
“Born in Purley, my life in Surrey, London and now Sussex has provided a varied backdrop to my practice, giving a broad variety of inputs to my observation of the landscapes, textures, and diversity around me. My art practice has many strands, but the main one is the application and removal of many layers of paint, working with the surface and the subsurface until the work reaches closure.
“The process is inherently tactile and time-consuming. I build up dense layers of paint only to erode them away using sandpaper and wire wool. This cyclical pattern of creation, erasure and peeling paint continues until the surface finally reveals its conclusion.
“Returning to showcase this work at The Electro feels entirely natural. The raw textures of this industrial space perfectly mirror the grit, history, and exposed layers of my own process, allowing the artwork to feel at home within its walls.”
November 13-22: Opening show 13 November, 5:30pm. Live music, including Oli Spleen’s Fad Maggots on Saturday 21 November, 6pm. Electro Studios, Seaside Road, St Leonards. Open: 11am – 4pm
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