Interview with Antony Crossfield

q) Introduce yourself first please?

a)Hi, I’m Antony.

q) Where do you live and work?

a)I am based in Brixton in London, a very vibrant, lively, stimulating and sometimes menacing part of the city.

q) How did you started? How have you realized you wanted to become an artist?

a)I have always made images ever since I was a little boy. It was inevitable that I would work in 2D imagery in one way or another. I was always very good at drawing and soon developed a passion for painting.

q) What materials do you use and why?

a)I try to use whatever materials are appropriate to the idea. These can vary between Paint, Pencil, Pen and Ink, photography, Computers and various software. I have always been very curious about explorring new mediums. This curiosity led me to learn more about computer generated imagery and digital technology and that then fed into my photography. Through digital technology I realised I could bring all my skills as a painter to photography and make photographs in a very painterly way. Photography as a medium inherently triggers certain conceptual ideas and assumptions. I’m interested in subverting and questioning these ideas – ideas such as photography being a an expression of truth for example. I’m lucky enough to be able to switch between various mediums without too much trouble and can therefore let the idea dictate the medium that is most suited to it.

q) Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

a)Artists: Francis Bacon, Giacometti, Kiki Smith, Gerhard Richter, Lucian Freud, Rachel Whiteread, Van Eyck. Philosophy: Merleau-Ponty, Nietszche, Deleuze, Heidegger. Cinema: David Lynch, Hitchcock, Haneke, Godard. Authors: Kafka, Dostoevsky, J.G. Ballard.

q) How do you dream up with your wacky ideas? What is your creation process?

a)I think. I imagine. I think some more. I draw. Etc.

q) What haven’t you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

a)I would love to have the opportunity to work in film and moving imagery.

q) Are there any contemporary artists that you love?

a)Rachel Whiteread. Lucian Freud. Jenny Saville. Christian Boltanski. John Currin. David Lynch. Gerhard Richter. The Chapman brothers.

q) How long does it take for you to finish a piece?

a)Usually quite a long time. My photography is often constructed from several photographs, sometimes shot at different times and the whole process is then worked on a computer to a significant degree. This can take several months. I work on the photographs in the way I work on a painting – sometimes completely reconstructed by hand via a computer.

q) What music, if any, do you like to have on while you're working?

a)All sorts. Right now I’m particuarly into Ligetti, Bach, Penderecki, Philip Glass, The Long Blondes, The National, The Howling Bells, Led Zeppelin and Nick Cave.

q) Do you do many art shows?

a)Not as many as I’d like. I’m working on getting more shows organised.

q) Tell us about a recent dream you had.

a)I dreamt I was in destroyed city. A city bombed to ruins. For some reason I was in hiding there. I was scrambling around the shelled houses, searching for shelter and hiding from someone. Then a tall blonde woman in a trouser suit, chased me and then tried to persuade me to go into a small room. For some reason I knew that it was not safe in the room and that she planned to lock me in the room forever after. I fought her off as she tried to lock me up whilst Serge Gainsborough sat and calmly watched whilst stroking a cat and smoking.

q) What are you doing when you are not creating?

a)Sleeping.

q) Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your work when it is sold?

a)Yes. There is a huge emotional investment in creating a work of art.

q)What new projects or exhibits are in your future?

a)I have a number of projects in development, all very exciting… keep checking my website for details!

q)What is your favourite art related web site?

a)The Audio and Video section of the Tate website has some great interviews with major artists. http://www.tate.org.uk/onlineevents/archive/

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?

a)Mass hysteria. The reaction in the UK to the death of Princess Diana in 1997 was frightening to watch. Large numbers of the population were caught up in a completely manufactured and manipulated display of emotion. Everyone seemed to forget they were crying for a complete stranger whom most of them had never met. As Schiller said "Anyone taken as an individual is tolerably sensible and reasonable--as a member of a crowd, he at once becomes a blockhead."

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever done?

a)Nothing I do seems strange to me. It’s just everyone else who thinks I’m behaving oddly.

q) any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?

a)Work very hard. Read. Think. Question. Challenge convention. Change.

q)your contacts….e-mail…links

a) http://www.antonycrossfield.com/

mail@antonycrossfield.com

+44 (0)7980 273 258