Sam Curtis
"Sam Curtis is a London-based artist, curator, and fishmonger. His projects and works evolve from the lived experience of social and economic dilemmas. His practice investigates how we situate ourselves within life’s systems and structures. Recent work has revolved around the questions: What does creative work look like? And how do we maintain and negotiate our place in wider systems of control while cultivating creativity and retaining a sense of autonomy?
Sam Curtis runs the Centre for Innovative and Radical Fishmongery. He is a founder and member of Seymour Art Collective, a group of artists who are or have been homeless. He is a curator at the Bethlem Gallery, situated in the Bethlem Royal Hospital, London."
Quoted from the Transmission program 2015
Sam Curtis' work is very different to a lot of the artists previously seen at Transmission as his work manifests itself in a very different way. He explores how we situate ourselves within societies systems and structures and what does creative work look like?
Curtis works mostly 'undercover' in professions that typically don't tend to lend themselves towards artistic tendencies. He mostly works as a fishmonger and one video work he made titled 'Harrods Fish Counter' 2008 was particularly interesting.
"My terms set out for the residency were that it was to be carried out in complete stealth mode, always undercover. This was to enable me access to the store, it’s staff and it’s customers in ways that would not be granted if it had been an official residency. Not that Harrods are likely to start a residency programme for contemporary artists.
I received a monthly wage for my work done like everybody else there – yet, at the same time, I was also able to spend time developing my practice and honing my skills.
STEALTH MODE: It can be a strain to work hard for a long period of time undercover. As an artist I was always there with the art frame in my head ready to apply to situations, yet I had no one to share it with. I'm not sure if this was really a problem but perhaps the fact that I am here now talking about this undercover residency suggests that I did want to share it."
His work at Harrods really interested me as most of his work their was centred around the people he worked with and who he interacted with in the non-artistic situation. He got to interact with so many different people on a daily basis and got to also develop his practice as an artist at the same time, I can't think of anything better!
