See / Hear / Read #1: ‘New Castles Online’ by Sophie le Roux & Edward Sellers

By The State of The Arts December 2, 2019

Thanks for popping in to have a look at this – the first outing of a new series of things we’re into at The State of the Arts. This space is where we will put up writing, visual art, photography, video, music and, basically anything in-between that we think is great.

First up is the collaboration ‘New Castles Online’ between Sophie le Roux and Edward Sellers. Sophie le Roux is a London-based photographer who works across still and moving image. She can be found across Europe’s arts events, having exhibited in London, Bristol, Brighton & Berlin. Exploring colour, texture and the catching of chance moments, Sophie’s work recalls Rothko and Martin Parr but essentially brings a movement that is neither. Her ‘About’ section says “She wants more from the world, and so lets you see it twice: in what unexpected moment has been captured, and again, in how the moment has been captured by the fickle medium of denatured film” and we’ll take that.

Edward Sellers is a writer of poetry, monologues & duologues based in Glasgow. Edward describes his work as moments of lucidity which attempt to cut through the incoherence of life. The results are micro fiction, poems and photopoems.

The collaboration here brings together both artists’ work where the photo collection of le Roux’s blends with Seller’s words. The result draws upon the influences mentioned, but also has an air of Big Sur Kerouac, or Camus, whilst remaining firmly of this world.

More info on both artists at the foot of the page.

wishing it was the sea that cleans these countless facades, as i wheel out the telescopic hose for pikachu’s wash. might get young jeroen to walk around with those balloons, tie the price sign to his waist. already we’re down to the last laa-laa. can never be sure that he’s charging five euros. ignore hotdog man, he’s given up. look at the state of him, look at those sunken eyes. he’ll make jokes about make-up routines: mustard for one eye-brow, ketchup for the other, telling kids he’s on a different kind of sauce and they won’t know what he means, what a prick. he belongs in a generation that’s past – seedy, slimy, corrupt.

the mermaid is my daughter’s work. yeah, she’s got talent. became a star in the travelling fairground industry. ride any miami wave in europe and you’ll see her art covering it. she grafts tirelessly. i’ve this shameful memory of describing one particular drawing as an eyesore, just when she was starting out. it was the first time feeling this understated, ice-cold fury from her – a sign of maturity, perhaps.

lucas passes by on his skateboard, same time every day. he’s so well put together, let me tell you. you get from him this blend of peace and confidence. we need his presence here all year-round. we do alright though, we’ve enough money for new parasols and keeping the playground nice. every few years i choose new castles online. we make ornaments out of dead tree trunks and sprinkle in some petals – signature sights that i feel the customers are into. a modern son eats ice cream from antique glass while we all adjust to the era. outside this bow window there are no more landscapes to push up against. envies become irrelevant.