Apocalypse Mon – A solo exhibition and book by Tim Head
Date published
29.06.2018
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Launching this Friday, London-based artist Tim Head teams up with Berlin-based publisher JB. Institute to unveil his first ever solo exhibition in the German capital, alongside a new 48-page book and a limited run of apparel with Carhartt WIP.
limited edition apparel
With this series of works, Head seeks to make sense of the madness which has seemingly engulfed the planet. Frustration, confliction, incomprehension, and doubts are woven into his works, reflecting his own sense of unease about the current social and political climate. In turn, this set of circumstances has triggered his own personal state of darkness, he says, giving rise to the exhibition’s title – ‘Apocalypse Mon.’
But how do we affect change? How do we take things from awkward to bright, dark to light, and turn it all into something positive... Jenne Grabowski of JB. Institute sat down with Tim Head to chat about how the project came about and why he would love to have a break in the clouds
Jenne: We met a couple years back, on the internet. Do you remember?
Tim: Yes, of course! You got in touch out of the blue and asked me to do something for JB. Magazine. I had heard of it, I think, through Erosie. So, it was awesome to get your email in my inbox.
I guess I saw your feature on The Heavy Mental website, an Australian online magazine (RIP).
Yes, probably. I think it was around that time I had done a zine with Rob Cordiner from Melbourne about rave nostalgia – just before rave nostalgia was everywhere.
I remember stoking on your collages and especially these pattern pieces with two, three or four-color patterns. Wild and super simple at the same time.
Ah, thank you! With some of those abstracts it is easy to just fill up a page or canvas with noise, but it has to flow, has to have feeling in my opinion. I guess you summed me up perfectly: wild and simple.
Tim Head - Punk Kiss
I remember stoking on your collages and especially these pattern pieces with two, three or four-color patterns. Wild and super simple at the same time.
Ah, thank you! With some of those abstracts it is easy to just fill up a page or canvas with noise, but it has to flow, has to have feeling in my opinion. I guess you summed me up perfectly: wild and simple.
You still do these kind of artworks. But a lot has changed in the past years and so your practice has changed.
Yes. Well, to be honest I haven’t really had a regular practice as I haven’t been lucky enough to be a full time artist. In my head there is so much shit to get out, visually speaking. I have so many different styles and ideas. It’s just time and opportunity. The limoncello abstracts are in effect in this project because it works within the concept. Like a drunk, pissed off Franz Kline.
having a day job also filters out the bullshit – you don’t have time for filler, it’s just the works you need to make.
But this can also be a big influence on your art. What is it you do all day? And how does it affect your methods?
I work in the design world and hustle around. It’s a means to an end. The end being full time creative soon. But working in the design world is super inspiring. Design teaches you to work within a problem, to be able to justify every visual decision made. For me, design is your head, art is your heart. I love them both.
Sounds like being off the computer is rare these days. Does that mean you are mostly working digitally at the moment, also when you are making art?
All my ideas come from my head, so I am always working – as I’m walking down the street thinking, planning. But no, digital is just a tool for some things I make. For example, limoncello is done digitally, but collage is hands up, analogue ripping up paper and seeing what works. To me, use what you have. What works for the piece – you can’t do Graffiti on a laptop.
I think in this age, computers are integral to most of our lives – phones, emails, social media. So, the computer has slowly become a close tool we are used to.
A lot of different techniques are involved in the ‘Apocalypse Mon’ book we just produced. What works best for you when you are putting everything together?
For me, this project meant cleaning up. Cleaning up and tidying up all the random thoughts and ideas I have had over the last few years with all the shit. I had a brain dump, collecting all these images and trying to make sense of them. Or at least present them in a way that makes sense to people.
When we were going to print I changed the order last minute, simply for me to add an element – there is the image of the clown (me) with the small comic bit, saying ‘turn over for anxiety.’ Then the next spread is about kids being the hope. But it also plays on what I’ve been going through the last few years with my mates having kids, and I haven’t yet – just having that little link is another personal touch that not many people apart from me will see. But everything has a reason in my head. I think everything I work on has to be personal or have a reason, but this is definitely my most personal work yet.
I think everything I work on has to be personal or have a reason, but this is definitely my most personal work yet.
Back then we didn’t know we would do an exhibition but we knew it’s going to be a project that gives you a large outlet to play with your ideas…
I mean, that’s why I am with JB., with you Jenne, with Karsten, and Carhartt WIP, till I die. Opportunities are hard for people. To be given a chance to prove yourself, I see it as a gift. So, thank you for the opportunity.
I feel that curators and sometimes brands that give opportunities like this should be thanked more. There is a hell of a lot of work that goes on by people other than the artist. Big up all those that help artists fulfill their ideas!
Do you feel like you are more able to reach people through artwork rather than with language?
Yes. Art is more universal. It should be more immediate. Obviously conceptual art about local references might not translate as immediately, but it doesn’t matter what your country of residency is, a giant bold abstract should still hit you with the same force. Good art is good art, and good art should be immediate.
Immediacy is the key. And it was and is important to your output, let’s just say for the comprehensive work for this project. Very emotional and direct.
I think it is super important to have immediate work. Also for it to have a meaning or a message. Not fucking cheesy like Banksy or so, but personal. With street art and post-street art, I want to inject some honesty back into things. After all, as artists, our artworks should be like pages of our diaries. When we die, you can look back and see where we were purely by looking at our artworks.
This body of work in ‘Apocalypse Mon’ is the last two years for me. Grenfell, Brexit, Trump. It might be obvious now, but 10, 20 years time, those names and words might have faded for many, so it’s important to capture it. If everyone is too cool for school, then things get lost.
Tim Head - Lost
Tim Head - Stress
This body of work in ‘Apocalypse Mon’ is the last two years for me. Grenfell, Brexit, Trump. It might be obvious now, but 10, 20 years time, those names and words might have faded for many, so it’s important to capture it.
We produced an exhibition which is coming together as we are speaking. Screen prints are ready, flags are in the making, the book is at the printer and the first pages have seen the light. How do you feel about all this?
Surreal. Proud. Scared. Tired. Excited.
Like any project, we are in that final race where we forget exactly why we are doing this, as we're busy focusing on deadlines and getting 100 little things done on time. I will be able to stop fully when we have that first beer at the show opening. Then I’ll take it in. Until then, I will always be trying to improve it.
This has been an inspiring journey, and a very political one. It’s been one way of protesting with your visual language and our curation.
Yes! Well, thank you! I can’t wait to be in Berlin, at the end of this journey, with you and Karsten. And my girl Rosie who’s lived a lot of this with me. Looking forward to being in Berlin. And just the fact that we did it is awesome.
I just want the world to move on, ease up on the dark shit and get back to talking bullshit – like when my life was dominated by collecting Rawkus promos from Discogs, rather than protesting some government evil deeds.That might sound simplistic, but I would love a break in the clouds.
