Artists > 2010: Framing Identity > Grimes, Grisoni & Lascelles

Work

Together, Oona Grimes, Tony Grisoni and Sophie Lascelles have developed works that reflect upon and consider aspects of Maurice Egerton’s life. From m.a.d. (Maurice’s Arctic Diary) to Traveller’s List and Clouds, the pieces act as a three-way conversation in several of the Mansion’s private, upstairs rooms. Maurice Egerton’s life is well documented and, a confirmed bachelor, he spent much of his time travelling, establishing estates, schools and farms in Kenya and experimenting with the latest technologies of his age. But his private life is not an open book. Tatton’s archives are re-presented by the trio, with the raw data of packing lists and diaries providing the spine for works that suggest the inner workings of a very private man. 

Biography

The trio of artists, who have collaborated to create works in the past are, in order: a printmaker; a16mm-film installation artist; and a writer and director. Separately, Grimes and Lascelles have developed work held in collections throughout the UK and abroad, and Grisoni has produced mainstream theatrical films.

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Oona Grimes is a compulsive draw-er, scribbler and storyteller. Working with books and multiples, etching and mixed media, she embraces redundant print processes; salvaging and recycling last of stock, discarded and obsolete materials. Narratives gleaned from such diverse lives as William Bligh, Mary Bell, John Dee and Fred West are mapped and served up as cocktail-shaken distillations of individual and collective memory.

Recent exhibitions include: ‘Rose-Red Empire’, Danielle Arnaud contemporary art, 2009; ‘Hidden Narratives’, Graves Art Gallery Sheffield, 2008; ‘Riddle Me’, Danielle Arnaud contemporary art, 2008; ‘Conversations With Angels’ (solo) at Danielle Arnaud contemporary art 2007; ‘Uncanny Tales’ touring to Babylon Gallery, Ely; Rugby Art Centre; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Black Swan, Frome; Jersey Arts Centre; Cultural Centre, Ypres, Belgium; Scarborough Art Gallery; Glyn Vivian, Swansea; Wrexham Art Centre; De Buytensael Arnhem, Holland: 2003-07. Her prints and drawings feature in Iain Sinclair’s Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire, 2009.

Grimes lives and works in London. She studied at Norwich School of Art and The Slade School of Fine Art. She is  visiting lecturer at Ruskin School of Fine Art Oxford University, RCA and University of the Arts London. Her work is in collections at The New York Public Library, USA; The Manchester Metropolitan; The Strang Collection University College London; the Lineker College Oxford, the Victoria & Albert Museum & The University of Texas.

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Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. Queen of Hearts, 1989 was his award winning first feature directed by Jon Amiel. He has worked closely with a number of directors including John Boorman, Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe (Brothers of the Head), Rankin and Chris Cottam (The Lives of the Saints) and Michael Winterbottom (In This World, 2002). Grisoni is also proud to count himself amongst the crew on board the ship of fools: The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

Vanished – A Video Seance, 1999 was made in collaboration with performance artist and poet, Brian Catling. Further artist collaborations followed with Catling, and more recently with Oona Grimes and Sophie Lascelles (Peril, 2008).

Grisoni wrote the screenplay for Samantha Morton’s directorial debut (The Unloved, 2009) and the Yorkshire Noir Red Riding Trilogy, 2009 adapted from the novels by David Peace.

KINGSLAND #1 The Dreamer, 2008 was Grisoni’s debut as director and won a BAFTA nomination. The 20 minute short film is the precursor to a feature set in the Kurdish community of North London. Two new shorts in production, written and directed by Grisoni are Syncing featuring Peter Capaldi, and The Pizza Miracle. He is also writing Kindred Spirits, an odyssey through the life and fiction of Philip K Dick.

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Sophie Lascelles often uses multiple projections, film, cut out paper, light and shadows to create atmospheric installations. These are inspired by early traditions of magic lanterns and optical toys as well as referring to theatrical stage sets.

Through her work Sophie changes the nature of space around us and how we relate to it. She explores connections between physical and filmic reality, creating an elusive space between fact and fiction. There appear to be hints of fleeting memories existing as much in the imagination as anywhere else.

Sophie Lascelles grew up and worked travelling the world with the Footsbarn Travelling Theatre. She studied at the Slade School of Fine and was a winner of Jerwood Contemporary Painters 2008. She has exhibited at Tate Britain, Museum of Garden History, and Graves Art Gallery.