I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Francis Upritchard today, a New Zealand artist, who has exhibited internationally and in June will represent New Zealand with Judy Millar at the 2009 Venice BIENNALE, which no doubt I will post about.
Francis came in casually to talk while she was here on holiday, she is currently based in London. It was really interesting to hear how she broke into the art world. After finishing school (at my school) she went to Auckland for a couple of months, then left to live in London. While in London, Francis and a friend occupied an artist run space, which were just starting to come in. They were squating in a old three storey warehouse, this isn't illegal in London if you didn't break in. There they just started to invite artists to exhibit and they sent out invitations to gallery owners and curators to come to the exhibitions, and they did. The likes of Charles Saatchiu was there and brought off them. Francis just kept opn exhibiting her work, it seems to be everywhere now! and she has just taken off. Most of her work revolves around her travels and her thoughts.
The artist I have met have been very up themselves and in some instances, such as Marlene Dumas, stopped me liking their work and I was worried about this with Francis, with her high standing. However, she was very casual, funny and great to listen to! here is some of my fav pieces!
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