KT-LAB: an Art Expedition

Keelertonero’s KT-LAB

‘We want to stretch ourselves, to expand our capabilities, to study and grow. Also, we want to do it for ourselves… with a little help from our friends’

KT-LAB is a 2-3 year project in which we first complete tasks set by specially selected Artists and creatives who then critique the work we produce. The aim is to challenge our ideas about painting and art. We also aim to expand our vision by adopting the viewpoint of our chosen artists. We then want to share online as much of this experience as possible.

Through interviews and studio visits we also intend to offer an insight into the usually undisclosed world of everyday creative process. Furthermore, we intend to enter into a dialogue with the Artists and the public about the meaning and function of the Arts in todays society. We encourage everyone to get involved and become part of this conversation…

We have been collaborating as artists for more than 10 years, exhibiting painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, installation and film. To focus on painting is now our aim. Applying for a postgraduate masters course as a duo would enable us to concentrate on painting and evolve our practice, to expand our skills and develop our ideas. However like many of our peers, we can’t afford the time or the fees involved. So what’s the alternative? How else could we get the benefits of a full-time course? Could we construct our own course framework to fit our current life situations?

Our proposal to devise a course from scratch to suit our needs:

• appoint carefully chosen tutors – artists we admire – to set us tasks based on our course criteria and evaluate the results,
• interview these artists in their working environments about how they work, and why they work,
• set ourselves a programme of study and research spanning our interests in art history, themes, concepts and techniques,
• write a dissertation asking important questions about the nature of artistic integrity, what it means to be an artist and why art is important,
• appoint a Dean of School to oversee proceedings and regularly assess our progress,
• document the whole process online as it develops and create a forum for commentary and debate involving art professionals and members of the general public,
• hold regular exhibitions showcasing the course outcomes,
• potentially set a precedent for a viable alternative development and education framework for artists.

Aims in brief:

• study painting and take Keelertornereo’s practice to the point where we are fully equipped to express our ideas,
• promote a dialogue about painting and art – between artists, academics and the general public – around the relevance of art in past, present and future society,
• promote a discussion about the state of art education in the UK and beyond, how it has changed and it’s potential future,
• to connect artists with other artists and help promote a healthy exchange of ideas, collaboration and criticism,
• to explore the nature of artistic collaboration and its associated issues.

About Keelertornero

Chin Keeler and Emma Tornero work collaboratively, intentionally replacing individual vision for animated dialogue, sourcing imagery or deliberating on a concept or theme.

‘We create images in which the impossible becomes natural. Where characters play parts in an  illusory world. A place of dreams and hallucinations, inhabited by strange beings living out their lives just beyond our peripheral vision.

Presenting narratives of impossible geometry. We have cast a pantheon of players in an epic soap opera, a theatre of illusions and trap doors. Where a fisherman from the island of Terschelling can rub shoulders with John Wayne trapped inside the body of a stag that’s trying to escape his future by becoming the daughter of Mies van der Rohe.

You can follow the progress of KT-LAB: an Art Expedition by visiting lab.keelertornero.com

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