In late 2018 artists Phill Hopkins and Jadene Imbusch were brought together by Bruce Davies of BasementArtsProject; Hopkins an established artist who shows internationally and Imbusch a young art student, both based in Leeds. They were commissioned to make work for the Yorkshire Sculpture International Festival, during the summer of 2019.
In early 2019 Hopkins suggested that they should make a series of collaborative works by sending work back and forth via Royal Mail. Eight works were made and they deal with notions of home, domesticity, homelessness, and found materials. The works were shown at BasementArtsProject alongside Hopkins’ major installation ‘A House within a Home’ and Imbusch’s ‘Pitched’ as part of ’On the Corner’ / Yorkshire Sculpture International Festival, 22 June to 29 September 2019.
29/01/19, 10:27
Hello Jadene
Apologies for not being in touch. I’ve been up and down to London a bit re a show I’m in there. I have an idea that may get us going. How do you like the idea of a postal exchange? You make a drawing / something on a flat surface and send it to me to work on. It goes back and forth between us until one of us decides it’s finished.
We could set some rules: the drawing has to be about the day we work on the piece, etc. Let me know what you think.
Phill
29/01/19, 23:48
Hi Phill thanks for getting in touch, don’t worry about not messaging sooner, I noticed you’ve been busy with exhibitions from your social media. The postal drawing exchanges seem like a great idea, I’ve been struggling to come up with fresh ideas and ways to get going with my work, so this will hopefully help me get motivated.
I noticed that themes of your current work involve the homeless a lot, and funnily enough there has been an increase of the homeless migrating from the city centre to the streets of Beeston, which has been shocking to say the least, as it’s not something I’ve ever witnessed before whilst living here. So perhaps this is something that could come into play with our pieces, or maybe something to juxtapose the theme/subject of homelessness
Hope to hear from you soon.
Kind regards,
Jadene
31/01/19, 17:09
Great!
I’ll hopefully send a drawing tomorrow.
My address is …
What’s yours?
Phill
Image credits (from top):
1. Phill Hopkins & Jadene Imbusch, Q. No Adults (2019)
2. Phill Hopkins & Jadene Imbusch, Courage 17 (2019)
3. Phill Hopkins & Jadene Imbusch, CP11122018 (2019)
4. Phill Hopkins & Jadene Imbusch, Essentials (2019)
5. Phill Hopkins & Jadene Imbusch, Den Stuff (2019)
6. Phill Hopkins & Jadene Imbusch, Semg (2019)
This is part of ROT, a section of The Learned Pig exploring multispecies creativity through modest tales of collaboration and coexistence amidst world-ending violence and disorder. ROT is conceived and edited by Julia Cavicchi.