Art for art’s sake – it’s a nice idea but for most people who end up following their creativity into a career, deadlines, compromise and paying the bills somehow seem to get in the way. That’s why we’re in love with our latest discovery, Bare Bones a quarterly zine and collective that’s a platform for creativity free of padding and distractions. Born in London, Bare Bones are gearing up for their first US show in New York (June 29th people – be there!) so we decided to catch up with co-founder Harry Malt and head of video Matt Lambert.

How did Bare Bones come about and what does the name signify?
Harry Malt: BB is an opportunity for people to contribute their art, writing, illustration, photography, to a news paper format without the constraints of editorial dictation. It’s a labour of love, a nod to old school free press, punk ‘zines, underground literature and general subversion. We publish it and distribute it ourselves on a quarterly basis and give it away for free.
The name is what it is, no padding or superfluous stuff. It is stripped down and straight forward. It’s like a Nascar car, fast a fuck and only the bare essentials to make it go.

HM: It has been around for one year now, our first show was in the Dazed & Confused gallery back in July 2009. BB was started by myself and Chris Bianchi as an outlet for work from our friends and artists we admire. It is deliberately non-precious and we have always aimed to not take it too seriously.

Matt Lambert: I then came on-board after the second edition as head of video in-part inspired by another good mate and Irish-über-talent Niall O’Brien who was overseeing the photography for BB.

I’d been working in commercials for a while and have just recently started directing. Commercials take months and there is an organic spontaneity that can get lost in the bureaucratic infrastructure. Pulling away from the VFX/tech world a bit, my recent work has been lo-fi, lo-brow and stripped down to it’s Bare Bones. Collaborating with the crew was a logical evolution, or de-evolution, or my work.

How long have you been involved in Bare bones and how has it evolved?

HM: Me and Chris Bianchi gave birth to BB last year with the help of some mates. We are it’s parents, it’s siblings and it’s lover. That sounds a bit incestuous.
We are one year old.

ML: I’ve just been on-board since the launch of the third edition. This has meant the addition of moving-image. It’s a big step to step off the pages, so we’ll see how it goes down in NYC this month. I’ve invited some great folks whose work I really respect and who feel like the right fit for Bare Bones. We’ll see!

What have been your favourite Bare Bones moments?
HM: Every BB moment is a pleasure for me, ha ha. The shows are the best, get the work done, stick it all up, get a bit done in that no-one will come,
and then just kind of kick back and let it all wash over me, wake up the next day and start it all over again.

ML: I used to live in London and am back pretty often. On my last trip back we set aside a few days to make films for the upcoming show at Bare Bones HQ.

A lot of the crew were involved in the process, but much began with Harry and myself in a studio with cans of lager and old school punk rock. Chris Bianchi and the Le Gun crew (also part of Bare Bones) were also around working on an installation for Art Brussels. The whole group has a great, raw sensibilities and we all just riffed for a few days and made some pretty strange shit.

I hear you’re gearing up for your first US show – can you tell us about that? what should people expect?
HM: Yeah, this will be our first NY show and it is super exciting, there is a great scene over here and we want to share a bit of our London thing with them.
Just keep an open mind and come down and have a laugh, there’ll be copies of BB3 and the new mini BB zine, we’ve done especially for this show.
Expect a cross between, Sniffin’ Glue, Underground Press Syndicate, Jack the Ripper and some beers. A healthy combination.

If I tell you what’s going down at the next event no one will need to come! Suffice to say it will feature artwork from some of the finest London artists and some stateside contributors will be representing there too. I guess it’s a slice of British life setting up camp in LES for a night. ONE NIGHT ONLY! Bad teeth and pints, y’know the sort of thing. Ha ha.

ML: Yea, I’ve got a lot planned for the night. A lot of it will also happen spontaneously on the day of the install. We’ve got some great folks involved and some pretty raw performances at the bar downstairs for the after party. It should be pretty insane and I’m pretty curious myself to see how it all comes out.

BARE BONES ARE:
ART:
Harry Malt*, Chris Bianchi, Neal Fox, Frank Laws, Hannah Bays, Robert Rubbish, Kate McMorrine, Stephanie von Reiswitz, Billy Bragg, LeGun, Heretic Print Studio, Leigh Fox, Lie-Ins & Tigers, Nervous Stephen, Simon Dara, Amelia Johnstone, Hanna Hanra, Matt Lambert, Peter Rapp, Kate Merry, James Pecis, Tom Jennings and Zoe Taylor.

PHOTO:
Niall O’Brien*, Jamie Daughters, Ross McDonnell, Brian Daly, Shane Deegan, Richard Gilligan, Jacob Lillis and Andreas Laszlo Konrath.

LITERATURE:
Michael Smith*, Richard Milward, Gary Fairful, Sebestian Horsely, SC Breen, Svetlana Graudt, Gavin Bennett, Jamie Putnam and Slavko Vukanovic.

FILMS:
Matt Lambert* (dieLAMB), Sean Pecknold (Rokkit), Andy Martin (Passion Pictures), Matt Smithson aka Man vs. Magnet, (Curious Pictures), Niall O’Brien, Ross McDonald, Superelectric and several more film makers be premiering original works.

*group curator
To find out more about Bare Bones check out http://quarterlybarebones.blogspot.com/