AirSpace Studio Show - featured artist #3 - Michael Branthwaite

AirSpace |Gallery's Studio Show is into its second week, and the 3rd featured artist is Michael Branthwaite. Michael's work is shown in the gallery's window space, so it can be seen 24 hours a day - the resto of the show continues until 6th October, open Tuesday-Saturday 11am-5pm.


Re-Boyz: A project investigating the sustainability of Leisure and Pleasure in economic decline.

This project Re-Boyz looks at how a society based on commodity and consumption can sustain itself and allow individuals to pursue 'me time' when finance and government support for ‘superfluous’ activity’s is being cut, and if press reports are correct will continue to be cut for up to a decade. At the core of the project is my interest in ‘Board Sports’ and in this case a specific interest in skateboarding as defined by the Zephyr Skate Team or ‘Z-Boyz’. The Z-Boys interest in new terrain and seeing the city ‘anew’ through the eyes of a Skateboarders where features outside offices and museums become playgrounds to explore new ways of experiencing our surroundings.

Taking into account my interest in the ‘economics of leisure’ I have set myself the task of making a Longboard that can be used to explore the city without purchasing any parts brand new or at the very least full price. This hits key concerns and lines of enquiry with in my practice: How the urban environment is conceived and built/ How the urban environment is interpreted and navigated by it users, and a deeper routed interest in the capitalist consumer system and how goods are marketed and how this relates to counter culture modes of subversion and identity.

I would like to give special thanks to the staff at Dazed for the generous donation of parts and advice.