Jaqueline Petroleum gathered copulous news-inches last month as she and two other Royal Academy artists went on strike outside the Tate Modern, vowing never to make work again until the public perception of art changes.
The powerful images of 3 whitewashed women wearing placards made from ethnically-masticated bark must be one of the highlights of this years fold-out megacalendar of events.
I asked the searingly fashionable Jaqueline Petroleum to give us an insight into the typical morning of a contemporary typical artist.
by Jaqueline Petroleum, RA BA(WA).
An average day begins at dawn, when my partner John and I wake up in our king-size bed. The frame is from Habitat and the mattress is made from eagle feathers – it’s the only thing we can sleep on. I’ll never go back to basics.
I’ve always woken early, but John has had to get used to it. He jokingly says that I’m the worst thing that ever happened to him. I love his dry sense of humour, even at 4am.
At 5.15am sharp I make a strong coffee, which I never drink. By that time, I’m too concerned with standing near a window and reflecting, questioning and finding inspiration. There’s something about the early morning light that compels me, like a moth to the flame of a candle in a cottage in a really pretty village.
After my coffee has encoldened, I’ll warm up my shakras by pointing them in the direction of Allah. Then I set off down the A32 in a rickshaw, looking for roadkill for my latest project - '(Un)Natural Disasters’.
On a bad day, I might have to go as far as Leighton Buzzard to find a suitably latent buzzard. It can be 7 or 8am before I return. By then, John has usually started practicing Cantonese in the Moroccan studio. I’ll make a spicy Japanese mung-bean and French cress taboulleh and browse German ebay for rare Bavarian roadkill.
Once the world has started to stir, I go back to bed, usually taking a copy of an Ibsen play or a Thomas Hardy novel. I often have to fight to stay awake, but as I’ve got a photographic memory, it doesn’t matter; I’ll just read the book in my mind later.
At 10am I awake for the second time, when I usually start work on plans for the new art space I’m designing - c:/dreamhut.comslash. It’s a new paradigm for art, perhaps even life. The structure is entirely sustainable; the bricks are a made of twigs, dust and sap. We call it ‘barkitechture’.
On an average day I’ll spend two hours talking over design details on the phone (a yellow Samsung DX15 with WAP, bluetooth AND wireless capability). I love working with talented people. The architect is the award-winning Arthrold Swamplet; a total genius. His construction crew will be entirely drawn from ethnically surprising minorities. The whole project team is like human muesli - great for digestion!
Usually I’ll get a call from my agent at about 11am, updating me on sales. This morning he rang to tell me that a lofty businessman wants to buy my ‘Flat Badger’ at £100,000! It’s great to know that all the hard work isn’t for nothing.
2006-08-21 @ 11:40