Preview Amanda Spawforth at Brahm
Sophie Haydock discovers a very personal exhibition at Brahm
Preview: Amanda Spawforth at Brahm
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When an artist is the subject of her own paintings it can get confusing. I’m at the opening night of What Are You Then? at the bijoux Brahm gallery in Headingley - and it seems the glamorous woman standing in front of me has stepped straight off the canvas.
She has. I look from Amanda Spawforth to the wall and back. In paint and in person they wear the same fishnet stockings, plunging dark green corset, towering black and white stilettos, ruby lips, flaming hair. In the painting Amanda strikes an evocative pose. In real life she’s quietly sipping wine.
It’s that Amanda, 22, is the subject of her art. It involves dressing up as stereotypes of British youth culture; posing, being photographed and painting the result on huge life-style canvasses. Tonight she’s turned up in character - burlesque.
By doing so, she explores and breaks down society stereotypes by “becoming” different personas for her paintings. In one she dresses as a chav, with bleached hair in a tight ponytail, tracksuit bottoms, aggressive pose and Burberry-print background. In another, ‘Highway to Heaven’, she’s a heavy-metal rock chick, strumming on an air guitar. Then there is goth, emo and Playboy bunny (that one raises a few eyebrows).
Her rather captivating images are the subject of admiration and a bit of controversy. “People might say ‘piss artist,’” she says. “But that’s not what this is about. It’s about identity, society, the objectification of women. It’s all me. It’s all personal.”
Amanda’s work is very personal. She’s next to naked in one painting. How does she feel about her rather revealing pose as a Playboy bunny, titled provocatively, ‘I’m Going To Show Him What I’ve Got, Make Him Hard’? “Well, it is a bit bizarre. But some of my earlier work was far worse - I did a series of firsts from when I was still at school, based on my own experiences. There’s ‘My First Period’, ‘My First Masturbation’, with me with my hands in my knickers. And one called, ‘What’s This Mummy?’ holding a vibrator. When I exhibited that one in Halifax, a security guard refused to walk past it.”
Paddy Hartley, the curator of Brahm, says he was desperate to get Amanda’s work into the space. “I wanted work that was funny, that would make people laugh; work that people could laugh with rather than at,” he says. “Who wants to see art that makes them feel stupid? Amanda’s work has the ability to communicate, a clear narrative. I’m very excited about how she’s going to develop as an artist. She’s definitely one to watch.”
It takes Amanda around three weeks to complete a canvas. And she’s enjoying the success of her frank style. “I’m very popular in Denmark. When I exhibit there I sell every piece.” (Here, the chav painting has a £2,000 price tag.) But why should people in Leeds come to see her work? “Because I’m local, for a start. I was born in Wakefield. And…” she says, smiling, “you certainly won’t be seeing anything like me in the Brahm again.”
Until 1 December, Brahm Gallery, 9a Alma Road, Headingley, LS6 2AH, 0113 230 4000, free www.brahm.com/gallery
Posted on Tuesday 20th October 2009
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