Rising star
Interview: Sophy Grimshaw BRITISH ARTIST STUART SEMPLE, 27, LIVES AND WORKS IN LONDON. HIS POP ART-STYLE PAINTINGS HAVE WON HIM MANY FAMOUS FANS Your work has already been compared to pop art by Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. How does that feel? One minute you’re the next Damien Hirst, the next minute it’s Warhol or [...]
Interview: Sophy Grimshaw
BRITISH ARTIST STUART SEMPLE, 27, LIVES AND WORKS IN LONDON.
HIS POP ART-STYLE PAINTINGS HAVE WON HIM MANY FAMOUS FANS
Your work has already been compared to pop art by
Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons. How does that feel?
alt="The post-pop artist">
One minute you’re the next Damien Hirst, the next minute
it’s Warhol or Koons. It’s a bit strange because they are not
actually that similar to each other – or to me. It doesn’t
really bother me because those people are my heroes.
You recreate images of celebrities, like Sienna Miller.
Now she has bought your work and so has Debbie Harry…
When celebrities started buying my work it made things
difficult as it would be in the back of my mind when I was
painting, so I have to try and forget about it. But I was
touched when George Harrison’s son, Dhani, bought a piece,
as I’m a huge fan of Dhani’s music. There are teenagers who
can’t afford my art but stay at my show for hours because
they really understand it – they’re who I’m doing it for.
Tell us about the free print available through your website…
alt="Thou Shalt Not Remain depicting Marilyn Monroe">
At 4am on 23 April I’m releasing a free print online for one
month only. I’ve worked with designers in India to develop
software so people can print my work however big they want.
It’s a way to give people something for free. I think the art
world is slow to respond to the internet – that worries me.
You deconstruct pop culture – are you a fan of it?
Some of it I love, some I hate. We all live in our own pop
culture spheres – it becomes like a code, like our DNA. This is
who I am: I’m 10% Topshop, 15% Britney Spears and so on.
What I’m doing in my work is like personal portraits, it’s
about how people say: ‘This is what I’m into.’ Then people
validate your coolness or lack of it. It’s fascinating.
Is it true you’ve created your own colour palette?
alt="Find You’re Gone">
Yes, my reds are called “raygun” and “Ferris Bueller’s Ferrari”,
my pink is “hot lips”. But this month there’s an exhibition
of small line drawings of mine at the Kowalsky Gallery
(www.dacs.org.uk) in London which is different. The theme
is romance, so they are something quieter.
Is the rumour that Uri Geller, the famous spoon-bending
psychic, is your manager really true?
Yeah, he’s one of my managers and has two or three
artists he works with. He buys a lot of art. I think he even
studied with Salvador Dali. Uri really wanted to be an artist,
but the spoon thing kind of took over.
For further information and to download the free print, visit
www.stuartsemple.com
CV: THE SEMPLE LIFE
alt="Scared To Sleep Alone">
Stuart Semple was born in September 1980 and graduated
from Bretton Hall, Leeds, in painting and printmaking in 2000.
His paintings, which feature celebrities such as Britney Spears
and Kurt Cobain, are created in his east London studio and
have been shown internationally. In 2005 he made the news
when he smuggled an art work emblazoned with the words
“British painting still rocks” into the Saatchi Gallery, claiming
its owners neglected British talent.
Apart from painting, Bournemouth-born Semple designs
clothing for New York streetwear label Just Another Rich Kid,
and in 2007 he was appointed to the creative board of DACS
(Design and Artists Copyright Society).
