British Artist duo Andrea Blood and Zoë Sinclair (formally known as ‘The Girls’) are graduates of the legendary Central Saint Martins School of Art. They first met at school aged 16 and began collaborating in 1996 during their first year at CSM. After several years of partnership, they were finishing each others sentences and winning a string of awards, (possibly because of their fantastic matching pink outfits!), but most likely for their surreal, quintessentially English and brilliant art work. The pressure to achieve became too great though and in 2000 they went their separate ways. However they have recently both realized they are meant to work together, so now it’s second time lucky for these friends who are back on their way to the top.
You first met at art class at Grammar School aged 16, did you already know you wanted to become artists by profession at that time?
Andrea: No, not at all. I knew that I wanted to work in the creative field but I didn’t know where or how. I really didn’t know enough about the industry at the time to know how I might make a living. Being an actual artist seemed more of a dream. I took up the best opportunities that became available to me and always pushed myself towards all and any artistic development hoping that the right path would reveal itself and it did!
Zoë: We had an exceptionally inspiring art teacher at this time, Dave Westhead, who went beyond the call of duty and took us to London on the train to see exhibitions several times a month. He became our artistic lifeline, as at the time the school, located next to a sewage farm, was a bleak environment, which did not value or encourage artistic girls. I wanted to use my creativity but wasn’t sure how. Life was so different back then, without the internet to aid research!
Can you describe the sort of art you do?
Andrea: Our work is very much a collaborative process with each other. We’re constantly brainstorming and coming up with new ideas. Some of which are strong enough to develop in full-scale piece or a series of works. Lots of the ideas become layered so often there is more than one narrative in any piece. We produce self-portraiture works that are primarily photography based however; they can include real objects, collage and illustration.
Zoë: The older we get, the more English we feel! It’s inescapable. This influences our work. Our work now focuses on self-portraiture. It’s surreal, humorous, dark, female - we stage a private performance and record it. During this performance (the photo shoot) you can literally feel when we have reached the right place or mood. We try to leave the viewer room to interpret the work themselves. We both have black senses of humour and are fascinated by the female body and the way it has been presented visually through out the ages.
Your work includes self-portraits and performances pieces and has been compared to the work of Gilbert & George and Cindy Sherman. What do you think of this comparison?
Andrea: Naturally, we’re deeply flattered to be compared to those great artists who have a huge body of work behind them. We can only hope and continue to work hard in order to achieve the same level of success as them. Creatively, although we understand the comparisons, we think we are very different.
Zoë: Strangely, my ex-husband is the spitting image of Gilbert Prousch circa 1970! I really admire these artists’ dedication and consistency. Someone described us as “double Cindy Sherman” recently. I really think it’s too soon to compare us.
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