The Undertow Review

Adrian Barry born in Johnstone Scotland, was given a Polaroid instant camera when he was 11 years old, which he still has it to this day. From that moment a love of photography, alongside his other interest in music, developed. Music took him in a different career path until much later in his life when he returned to the still image and the possibility of becoming a professional photographer.

“That day arrived and what I can tell you now is that I really love what I do and I spend a lot of time refining, perfecting and even obsessing over my work... It is a passion”.

After leaving school he worked many jobs during the day, but he was cultivating a musical career by night. He had played in various bands over the years in Scotland but made his reputation in the 90’s as a bass player with a band called The High Fidelity. They were signed to Arista Records and released two albums: “Demonstration” and “The Omnichord Album” to critical acclaim. They had a cult following in the United Kingdom and the USA. After The High Fidelity came to an end, Adrian formed a band called The Poems in early the 2000s with his close friends in Glasgow. They released one album entitled “Young America”. Once again he found critical acclaim in the United Kingdom, USA and Japan. After a few years he felt that he had achieved all that he wanted to do in music. It was time to change careers.

In 2003 Adrian decided to act on his life long passion of photography by enrolling in The Glasgow College of Building and Printing. Here he developed his skills with a camera and soon found his true passion in life. So he swapped his guitar for a camera and set out on a journey as a photographer. At first he stayed with music photography. Most notably doing work for Martin Taylor, Justin Currie, Uncle Devil Show, Kevin McDermott, and Make Model. His portraiture work has seen him work with likes of Gerard Butler (300, Olympus Has Fallen), Emily Mortimer (Hugo, Shutter Island) and Jim Lambie (Artist).

Julia Sophia Sanner was born in Hannover.  She has always painted. In 2005: she had her first exhibition. Since then: she has never stopped painting and creating. In between: she studied fashion-design and became a taylor. Then continued painting. She has exhibited in different cities around Germany.

In her work she uses different techniques. You can find smart illustrations and portraits as well as abstract pieces, painted canvases, mixed media or painted sculptures.

http://www.sophiasanner.com/

Federica Lucia Vinella is an Italian artist, living and working in Edinburgh with a BA, Honours from the Academy of Fine Arts, in Brera Milan 2011, a scholarship from the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw, 2010 after studying in the  Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, 2009.

Tessa Berring studied philosophy and cultural history at Aberdeen University, before going on to Edinburgh College of Art Sculpture School. She has shown her work in several galleries and festivals around Scotland, Berlin and  London.  She was recently included in a doll makers pop up event in Amsterdam.  This year she has also had her poetry published in Magma magazine and The Pickled Body journal.

Jenny Papalexandris has been the recipient of numerous Art Awards. Her work has been included in various publications and media, a Visual Artist based in Australia with a Master of Art and a Bachelor of Education (Art) from the University of NSW in Sydney.

She explores photography as a subjective response to the world of light and shadow. Her photographs are highly expressive and visually commanding. Thematically rich and diverse, her photography is imbued with a strong sense of poetry, symbolism and metaphor.

She documents the universal themes of loss, identity, and the body. Her work is illuminated with a brooding, introspective questioning of her subjects, the quintessential rhythms and pulses of the world are smothered with a sense of mysticism- her work is her response to the beauty of the world. She instigates the impulse and its flamboyant tendencies to ‘sense’ rather than ‘see’ creating a singular vision explored with rigor and sensitivity, both visually and conceptually.

She continues to exhibit both nationally and internationally.  She participated in the Ten Diez International Art Event, held at the prestigious Magma Galleries in Tenerife, Spain. She has also shown as one of eight photographers specially selected for Album: Telling with Light held at the Garage Bonci in Italy. She has exhibited extensively in the USA, at the Darkroom Gallery and The Center for Fine Art Photography, in Colorado and Gallery 1650 in Los Angeles.

The Undertow  was given glorious free reign to sift through albums of Jenny's work, in light of offering a snippet-showcase of her visionary observations:

Ursula Cheng is a Northern Irish/Chinese born artist and illustrator who also goes under the name Ursula Kam - Ling Cheng. She graduated in Visual Communication at Edinburgh College of Art and since then has mostly been working freelance on installations to album artwork.

Her work explores various mediums combining digital and traditional image making to create something a bit experimental and playful with her cotton candy floss colours and spectacular ink line work. Her last project involved a performative aspect where live projection is utilised to create a wildly exciting environment, it showcase drawing and animated light visuals in a stream-of-conscious live score as she improvises.

Ursula also lends her creative skills and community art experience to local youth projects and hopes to start up a non-profit participation and project-building experience with her work at future events.

Collaboration with other artists and musicians is cited as one of this illustrator’s main intrigues and ongoing pursuits. Time is also split creating further designs for her independent line of screen printed T-shirts, apparel and prints. These can be seen at pop up events, festivals and regular street markets in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and look out for her online shop coming soon. www.ursula-cheng.com

Brittonie Fletcher is quietly working through a personality or identity crisis; of which she cannot tell, or decide- either way she isn't sure. She enjoys hiding in the dark. In her massive file of pieces of paper and qualifications she found an MFA from University of Edinburgh, a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, a licence for PADI rescue scuba diving, a personal licence for alcohol, a receipt for trading her soul in freshman year of high school for a bag of chips (she was hungry), pretty sure theres a certificate for dyslexia, poor grammar and bad spelling in the mail also. In her spare time she collects broken things, and puts them together, not because she wants to fix them, but because seeing the cracks and missing bits makes her feel better.

Rachael Bibby was awarded an Andrew Grant Bequest Award and scholarship to complete her Masters in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art. Her work explores connections between consciousness and paint where artist becomes medium . She has had a number of group and solo exhibitions around Scotland and is currently Artist in Residence at the Royal Scottish Academy for the Ego project.

© stuartolgilvie

Anneli Holmstrom graduated from the Edinburgh School of Art with a 1st class distinction. She is full time Arts Tutor for Novia Bildkonst Fine Arts Programme in Finland where she holds current residency- other resdencies include the John David Mooney Foundation: Chicago, Venice Agendas in Italy and Cove Park, Scotland.  She is the recipent of many awards and prizes and has had solo shows in London, Edinburgh and Finland where she is predominantly based at the moment.  Her works in private collections include audio art in the Tate Archives.  Anneli is a story teller, her work blends sculpture, painting and performance into one art form, mapping out journeys of the self through a series of original, thought-provoking pieces that tamper with meaning and multiplicity.