Barry Adamson is in a weird position. After winning acclaim for the noir-cinematic atmospheres of solo projects such as Moss Side Story and the mash-up of Back To The Cat, writing songs for directors such as Danny Boyle, Oliver Stone and David Lynch, and composing film scores for Delusion and Out Of Depth, the 53-year-old writer/multi-instrumentalist found himself directing, writing and acting in his own movie with 2011’s The Therapist. “I’m a marketing man’s nightmare,” he jokes. To make things more intense, Adamson—post-punk’s most legendary bassist, with roles in Magazine and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds—returned to the scene of the live-music crime by playing gigs with Howard Devoto’s re-united Magazine after decades of being a lone wolf. What was he thinking? And how did all of that recent interaction inspire his newest project, the aggressive Destination? Read our new Q&A with him below. Adamson will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week.
Adamson: The realism found in classical portrait sculpture from the ancient Greek, ancient Romans and through to today is a fantastic tribute to the capabilities of those whose art invests directly the human form. The line down from the portraits of the gods, to the everyday man and woman on the street, has remained true, and this is what can still have the ability to startle.
The study of anatomy and materials from bronze to clay to wax and silicone and the influence on Western art is a now a given thing. Photography details the exterior world in time and space even in a portrait, while in sculpture, the interior seems to be what immediately comes into focus. It fascinates me that a piece from the first century BC can stand next to a piece created last week.
I also am a fan of the photorealism of artists Ron Mueck, Duane Hanson, Sam Jinks (pictured sculpting above) and Jamie Salmon. This ultimate heightening of form almost defies art and becomes something else altogether.
The Society Of Portrait Sculptures here in the U.K. exhibit amazing work and some of my favourite sculptors’ work can be seen there.
Video after the jump.
