Artist Collaboration / 02
For our second Peer/Peer Cherelle Sappleton, an artist based in Ramsgate, UK, collaborated with Australian artist Thom Roberts. Roberts works with Studio A, a supported studio based outside of Sydney. Over three months, and a shared interest in the process of photocopying, they communicated through video messages and sent each other digital artwork files to develop a collaborative series.
Thom Roberts
Thom Roberts’ painting practice is one part of his varied oeuvre: a keen collaborator, he has also worked in performance, video animation, installation, and design. Roberts is a skilled draftsman, able to quickly translate landscapes and portraits in a traditional and representational style. Yet, his primary interest is in his installation practice.
In 2016/17 Roberts was a collaborating artist on the birdfoxmonster project with Erth Visual and Physical Inc, supported by Carriageworks, Eveleigh. In 2017, he exhibited at Cementa Festival in Kandos. Most recently, he was one of 70 artists chosen for The National: New Australian Art 2019 at Carriageworks. For this exhibition, he created a series of 16 paintings titled ‘Thom Roberts Counts Trains’.
Cherelle Sappleton
British born, Cherelle Sappleton studied Fine Art and Drama jointly at Bath Spa University (2006), then she completed a post-graduate diploma in Fine Art at Byam Shaw School of Art (2011), and MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins (2013). Her practice centres on photographic media utilising abstraction and surrealist aesthetics.
Blending these elements together, the work she makes uses the black female body as a starting point to explore and respond to issues of representation, agency and sensuality via collage, moving image and photography whilst also investigating the power and materiality of photographic images. She has exhibited in a variety of exhibitions, commissioned by the National Theatre, Harpers' Bazaar China, The National Trust and Adidas.
Who is Woody Tiger?
In March 2021, Thom Roberts and Cherelle Sappleton were introduced as the paired artists for Art et al.’s second Peer/Peer Collaboration - a series that commissions new open-ended artistic output between two artists internationally, with one artist working from a supported studio.
Residing on opposite sides of the globe, Sappleton in the United Kingdom and Roberts in Australia, they communicated virtually via video messages. During his introduction video, Roberts shared an artwork portrait of 'Woody Tiger'. This elusive, vivid female portrait became a key thread in communication and collaboration.
Process also became key to the collaboration through image layering and reproduction, as well as a shared interest in visually examining text. Consistent with their existing practices, this was evident through Sappleton’s digital collages and the manipulation of physical photocopies/prints by Roberts.
Over the three months, Roberts and Sappleton exchanged videos and artworks digitally back and forth exploring, manipulating and developing.
Communicating internationally via video messages, here are highlights from Thom Roberts and Cherelle Sappleton’s introductions about their art practices. This video about Peer/Peer 02 has embedded closed captioning.
(left) Thom Roberts in collaboration with Cherelle Sappleton, untitled, posca on scanned collage, 2021 (right) Cherelle Sappleton in collaboration Thom Roberts, untitled, 2021
(left) Cherelle Sappleton in collaboration Thom Roberts, untitled, 2021 (right) Thom Roberts in collaboration with Cherelle Sappleton, untitled, posca on scanned collage, 2021
(left) Thom Roberts in collaboration with Cherelle Sappleton, untitled, posca on scanned collage, 2021 (right) Cherelle Sappleton in collaboration Thom Roberts, Who is Woody Tiger?, 2021
(left) Cherelle Sappleton in collaboration Thom Roberts, Who is Woody Tiger?, 2021 (right) Thom Roberts in collaboration with Cherelle Sappleton, untitled, posca on scanned collage, 2021
Communicating internationally via video messages, here are highlights from Thom Roberts and Cherelle Sappleton sharing their experience of the Peer/Peer 02 collaboration. This video about Peer/Peer 02 has embedded closed captioning.