The photographer cites the art critic Michael Fried, discusses why he is spending more time looking at documentary photography and advocates for the remedial effects of Arte Povera.
1. Show us a sample of your work.
1. Coastal Blocks, Eight. C-Type Print. 2016
2. Dazzle Site, Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Timber collage. Photograph by Jonty Wilde. 2017
3. Platform at Pontresina, Switzerland. Black and White Photograph. 2015
4. Sweep, after Talbot. Installation, dimensions variable. The Hyman Collection. 2015
5. At Home She’s a Tourist, exhibition catalogue. Multiple covers. Essays by Gemma Padley and David Evans. Self published, in collaboration with Ben Mclaughlin. (pictured: Julie Boserup, Emma Bäcklund, Eva Stenram)
2. What research is currently most informing your practice?
Minimalism and death
Motorways
Repetition within work and labour
Absorption and theatricality, Michael Fried
Stars
3. Which photograph are you obsessed with right now and why?
Bus desegregation, 1956. New York Daily News.
I have recently been spending more and more of my spare time looking at documentary photographs. Looking and thinking about photography, representation and history. This picture depicts the interior of a bus, significantly with African-Americans occupying seats originally designated for white people. A protest campaign against racial segregation took hold after the arrest of Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat for a white passenger in 1955. This image is a powerful document of the crazy world we live in. It is so complex, on so many levels. The stare, fourth row back, of the man in the hat, is potent. I find it hard to look away.
4. What video can you not stop watching?
5. Can you give us five links to things you think we should know about?
6. How many photos do you have right now on your phone? Please share one
…and feel free to give us some context if you feel like it.
10188
Making photographs with my father on 26th December 2017. In the fens, East Anglia, where I grew up. Good times.
7. Can you send us a pic of your desk/workspace?
8. What is the most coveted photo book you own and why?
RFK Funeral Train by Paul Fusco. Produced in 1999 by the Photographers Gallery, London. Small, A5 size book of 68 xerographs. I remember visiting the corresponding show. The photographs were displayed in the cafe gallery of the previous building – when there were two buildings near Leicester square. I brought the book on that day and it is just superb. The colour is electric. And I think the work itself deserves more attention.
9. What concerns you?
Talented, hard working artists producing good work, lacking exposure.
A lack of diversity in further education. Money, trying to find enough. Premature death. London, how its run. My addictive personality. Disconnected and deceiving politicians. Recent gallery closures in London. My practice. Bullying, particularly amongst the young. I shall stop there, but the list does not.
10. What makes you happy?
Long distance running. Working with people who have a natural talent for writing, a superpower I would love to have. Watching my daughter ride the dodgems, with a smile across her face. The Cornish Coast. Late night working. Sausages. Sunshine. Books with well reproduced photographs, a rare thing. Arte Povera. Uncontrollable laughter with friends. Morality. Cleverly curated exhibitions. Being on my own in libraries. Teaching. 80s music. My practice. Sleep – I don’t sleep enough.
About Tom: Tom Lovelace is an artist based in London. He studied Photography at the Arts University Bournemouth, before studying Art History at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Lovelace works at the intersection of photography, sculpture and performance. His practice is grounded in interruptions and reinventions of the everyday, revealing and reimagining materials, processes and histories. Lovelace is currently a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London and the Arts University, Bournemouth. Recent exhibitions and displays include On the heights, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2017), On Board, Crispr, Bogota (2017), Groundwork, The New Art Centre (2016), To Camera, Golden Thread Gallery (2015), This way up, Flowers Gallery (2015) and Sweep, Victoria and Albert Museum (2014).