Art / News
Artist of the Month: Gemma Compton and CopyRight
Creative passions run deep in the Bedminster home of Gemma Compton and her husband CopyRight, our Artists of the Month. The pair have collaborated on two discounted prints for readers of Bristol24/7 and 10 per cent of all revenue will go directly to spinal injuries charity Aspire.
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Click here to buy this month’s artwork
is needed now More than ever
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The duo are an artistic team who not only live together but work together, collaborating on a number of projects including Coming Together/Broken Apart.
“It starts with a skateboard and a jigsaw, and then it’s primed, sprayed and painted by brush, before handing over to Gemma to do her half,” says Copyright.
“Gemma then takes over with “canvas, acrylic, brush, gold leaf, gallons of tea and days of Classic FM.”
A full-time artist for the past three years, Gemma has enjoyed considerable commercial recognition; she’s been flown to Cannes to create a mural for Facebook and exhibited at the House of Parliament in Westminster, but she is wary of labeling her art as one form or another.
“I always think labels are something that somebody else applies to you in an attempt to understand what you do,” she says.
Gemma’s husband CopyRight has also carved out a full-time career as an artist. “I was flown out to Tokyo to do a live paint in a night club and a solo show there,” he says. “I was also featured on the BBC’s Apprentice as part of an art task and just this year we were taken out to Chicago for my first ever USA solo show.”
He says his work is the fulfilment of a childhood dream: “I’ve been painting as a hobby my whole life, same as any kid does, but I started taking it seriously in 2003 when I moved to London and started working under the name ‘Copyright’ which I’ve been doing ever since.”
Copyright’s childhood passion for skateboards has influenced his work: “I’d visit skate shops and I’d start to see imagery that fascinated and inspired me. So since then I’ve always enjoyed working on skateboards as a canvas.
“This new piece, Coming Together/Broken Apart is me taking that further into a work that’s simultaneously a painting and a sculpture, using the broken heart motif that’s prevalent in many of my paintings.”
Bristol24/7 is pleased to be donating 10 per cent of revenue from the sale of the prints to Aspire, a charity which works with people with spinal injuries.
“I suffered a spinal injury in a serious RTA when I was 18,” says Gemma. “Although I have health issues because of it I was lucky to recover and I would like to raise money to help those paralysed by a spinal injury.”
The works
A limited edition run of 100 50x50cm Giclee prints with torn edges and a hand-finished gold leaf detail which is signed and numbers by both artists. £85 each.
Purple Rain which Gemma started the day that Prince died: “My work always focuses on fragility, life and death, through natural form…I guess this is a little tribute.”
40x30cm Giclee print with hand finished gold leaf detail. Edition of 100. £65 each
Artist of the Month is put on in association with our friends at Smithson Gallery