I am KEZ the artist. My art is about my life.

My life is a dangerous and edgy

existence as I struggled to survive as an artist in London for the last three years, since
making my defiant decision that I was to become an exhibiting practitioner. I wish to
embark on further training to become professional artist and make the step from post
degree practitioner to professional practitioner.

I work as a prostitute and in pornography and glamour photography, as a model, ‘fuck

slut’ and collector and archiver and designer of revealing, exciting, violent,
passionate, bold and gutsy photographs and prints. I use pornographic and sexually
explicit and glamorous pictures of myself that I perform in and direct with the people
that choose to spend time with me. I am therefore revealing my experience of the sex
industry in an imaginative, emotional, graphic way through the medium of Digital
Photography and Digital Printmaking. A colourful, vivid, violent aesthetic is my
trademark. I (usually) resist the urge to leave a digital photograph in its raw state. I
work into and over the top through the layering of images to create my prints, which
is why I resist to be restricted by the medium of photography, although I am a
photographer.

I have chosen the RCA Printmaking Course as I think it has the most scope for open,
multidisciplinary practise and have been informed of this by previous students and
when I visited to see The Show, of which the Printmaking Dept. made the biggest
impression on me. The portfolio I produced through 2008 has all been Mac based
digital practise with the result a series of large, colourful, professional, glossy inkjet
prints. I consider myself to be a digital artist: archiving, mixing, and designing my
digital photographs into a way that is Graphic and Explicit. I also use text to anchor
meaning to the images as well as referencing the world of advertising and Graphic
Design branding my work with my label “KEZ”.

I work on a professional Mac in my home studio, using a wacom tablet that I etch into
my photographs, of which there is a strong link to traditional printmaking techniques
such as lithography; I occasionally work in traditional methods such as ink drawings
and watercolours. I have my own selection of digital cameras and lenses; as for
software, I work mainly through Aperture, Photoshop, and occasionally I will delve
into Illustrator and Image Ready. Sometimes I edit short videos and I edit my own
‘Porno’ videos with a distinctive choppy style! I do not rule out the possibility of
more video production. It is all digital imagery that can be manufactured and
reproduced on a mass level, which I really appeals to me. It’s very POP! I guess mine
is tormented, ‘Dirty Pop!’

I draw sources of inspiration from various artists, including, Gilbert and George,
David La Chapelle, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Nancy Spero, and occasionally
Tracey Emin and Sarah Lucas may pass quickly through my mind. I also reference the
history of painting for special effects and layering and to create a painterliness, visual
impact and exuberance to the final image. I am also influenced by the Media,
advertising and magazines and commercial Graphic Design we see all around us.

The recent retrospective of Francis Bacon at Tate Britain has been a profound source
of inspiration, of which inspired a psychotic installation which was sadly unrecorded,
but of which I have written a shocking and insightful story about. I write extensively
in blogs, diaries, stories, and poems. Writing is a natural accompaniment to my work
and a necessary one. It allows me to reflect on the images and bring them into a
literary context. I bounce ideas from my violent ranting and inspirational insight.

I am excited by the advancements in digital technology and the possibility of new

technology as a means for art making as we progress in the digital age. I am also
excited by the digital possibilies with the equipment at the RCA. I am also a total net
head of the highest order! I am addicted to the Internet and am passionate about its
creative possibilities. I am very interested in web design and certainly will be taking
every chance to learn the software as I enjoy my interactive relationship with Fine
Art, Design, Technology and the Internet.

KEZ.