Did you see that one coming?
Image via lomography.com
Bryony Kimmings is a live artist who I think will always stick with me as someone who is unapologetically herself. This is something I truly admire about her. It seems an easy task, to be yourself, to be true with your art – but it’s not always that simple. Learning structure, method, reasons, techniques – while meaningful and important overlays a certain rhythm to how you can approach your art form, and often it can take a lot of soul searching, and a lot of guts, to really admit to yourself what it is you could do with an explosion of self. In the case of Kimmings, it’s a wild, colourful explosion.
Based between London and Cambridge, Kimmings creates full length performance pieces, audio installations, homemade music, 1-2-1 work, and short pieces for pubs and variety nights. She’s an artist who can think sideways, as well as up and down, and has seemingly found a way to let herself flourish. Even if this does mean period of imposed doubt (but who doesn’t have those). From her website, she “is inspired by the anomalies and taboos within British culture and loves to air her own dirty laundry to oil conversations on seemingly difficult subjects”. This is perhaps what is most compelling about Kimmings, her understanding that sometimes, people really do want to talk about everything.
Her works include: Seven Day Drunk (2012), Sex Idiot, Mega, The Hall of Gratuitous Praise, A Date with the Night and Mummy Time. Each has been inspired by, or recreated from the artists actual experiences and each possess a confronting yet hilarious solidarity.
Kimmings is my mentor for the week because of her approach to her art. Perhaps I romanticise the whole concept, but I find her approach is so unique, and yet very inclusive to a modern world. Her work is intelligent, challenging and unpredictable. She takes one concept and explores it to it’s fullest degree, always toasting to the humanity within.
Her website is a feast for the eyes… and if you want to know more about her process regarding her most recent work, visit her blog here.
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