Ideas Showcase: #2 - NO Way
NO Way are an independent agency that represent creative talent from artists to musicians, photographers to DJs. Their quarterly events, in association with HUH. Magazine, are carefully named NOT (An exhibition) – much like the ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ advertising campaign. On the opening day of their last event, I caught up with Founder and Director Charlotte Jansen (pictured in the middle of the main photo), and found that nothing is quite as it seems.
To say that NO Way are less of an agency and more of a family would be a clichéd introduction to an article, which is why I’ve saved it for the second paragraph. The relationships between Jansen and her artists extend beyond the humdrum of business. Many creative directors fear sentimental relationships with their talent because of the risk of representing someone on the basis of friendship and not ability but Jansen sees it differently – by only representing those who she values as people as well as artists, she can provide a service that is more adept at helping fulfil those individuals’ potential.
The latest of NO Way’s quarterly events was held earlier this month at Arbeit. It featured the work of a small crop of the NO Way collective, including Gustavo Ortiz, JMF Casey and Hin. The diversity of these artists gives an idea of the broad ambition of the project. Argentinian Ortiz is a collage artist whose work demonstrates a strong connection to craftsmanship. There’s an intricate malevolence to JMF Casey’s work, who takes on Baudelaire’s objective of liberating ‘beauty from evil’ by depicting morbid scenes in an elegant and meticulous detail. And there’s Hin; In London you are never more than five metres away from a rat, but in Brick Lane and its surrounding areas you are never more than five metres away from the work of Hin – his playful illustrative style combines images of destruction and despair with symbols of amusement. His work is just as likely to be found in serious galleries as he is doing live art with children.
The NO Way event is an exhibition, despite what the title suggests, but it does not feel like one. In the couple of hours I spent at the gallery space, the artists, their families and friends were mingling around with glasses of wine and sucking sweets, and children were actively encouraged to draw on the walls.
One of the philosophies that attracted The New Wolf to the NO Way project was the multi-disciplinary, mixed media approach that Jansen advocates. The events themselves go further than most independent exhibitions in that there are opportunities for public interaction with the art and the artists – be that through installations, live art sessions or workshops. This multi-disciplinary approach extends to the printed works associated with NO Way. On display at their events are comics, posters and t-shirts, all with a NO Way connection and there is the zine, SIX, independent of NO Way but edited by Jansen, which features in each of its editions six interviews and artwork that showcases counter culture.. While Jack Lowe, founder of the independent HUH magazine, is an associate and media partner for the agency.
Jansen principally focuses on representing emerging talent, but she is quick to comment that there is no theme to the artists she selects. But, as Shany Moore, another artist exhibiting at the event, points out, what ties the collective – and their exhibitions – together is Jansen’s own taste and personality, which underpins the show by providing the thread that holds it together.
Photos by Holly Aquilina.
