Maria Agostini
Staff Writer
Name: Nathan Gotlib
Profession: Printmaker, Illustrator and Graphic Designer
Nationality: Belgian
Location: United Kingdom / Belgium / Israel
Contacts: www.nathangotlib.com
Age: 23
He started off thinking that Math & Science were what his life was going to be about. A few years later, he graduated from London College of Communication and art is what he decided to be do with his life. There is clearly some missing link, but it seems to be all about mad coincidences. Clearly someone, however, has seen some sort of genius in there, and we hope to be among the first to have scouted it.
1. Tell us about what you do…
I just recently graduated from a BA in Graphic and Media Design at the London College of Communication, just 4 months ago. While I am currently trying to survive in the harsh world of creatives, I want to take my first year out of university to find out what really makes me tick. I plan on spending this year working freelance here and there to make some money and learn a bit more about the professional aspect of the trade. I am also very interested in the education and social aspect of design and art, which is why I assist Foundation tutors back at LCC to build up experience and stay in the whole scene. What I would like to do above all else though is do my own work. I have two very exciting projects I have been developing over the last year and all I needed was the time and space to start working on them. Some traveling would most definitely nurture my creative as well and I have always been quite keen on visiting Japan and South East Asia. All the good new year resolutions here…
2. How did you end up doing it?
Funny story that, something not everyone would agree with… I used to study Science/Maths back in high school and had absolutely no idea of what I wanted to do afterwards. I started some boring IT classes and ended up dropping out after only a month or two. While I was working in a headhunting agency, I took a weekend off to visit London with my dad. On the second day I met up with a friend of mine, Tessie Gaertner, who was currently studying Advertising at the LCC. After speaking with her a bit about design I got interested and decided to go and visit the university. It was by chance that on that very day the university were interviewing students to join their Foundation course and as I had nothing better to do I decided to give it a shot. I went into the interviewing studio with no portfolio or sketchbooks and after about 15 minutes of talking with a tutor, I was signed up to do a Foundation Course in London! Same kind of thing happened when I got to the BA at LCC. As I had to apply quite early in the year my portfolio hadn’t really developed yet so I was turned down. The referral I had received during the first assessment that year did not help. When my headmaster saw me in the canteen later that day and I told him I had not been accepted, he asked me to wait a minute and took off with my portfolio case. When he came back he mentioned I was accepted now. If that’s not a series of fortunate events, I don’t know what is…I guess it kind of showed me never to give up as you never really know.
3. Where are you from originally & what has taken you where you live now?
So I was born in Antwerp (Belgium) but have spent a relatively high amount of my youth in Brussels and Tel Aviv, where a lot of my family now lives (and we recently got a place as well). Like I said before, I came to London entirely by chance and decided to stay due to a series of fortunate events. I am now very happy of being there, although nothing really ties me to England. I would love to explore other parts of the world and experience their native cultures. This is one of the reasons I love studying languages in addition to my practice (and am currently studying Japanese and Italian).
4. Where else would you ever live? Why?
I have always wanted to live in all the big cities in the world, which is why I hope to live in New York at some point in my life. Besides that, it has always been one of my ambitions to move to Japan for an undefined amount of time. I have always been interested in the culture and during my studies I developed a particular sense of appreciation for Japanese printmaking techniques and illustrative styles, including anime.
5. What is missing in your city’s art scene?
While being in London opens up a lot of opportunities, it certainly lacks a proper sense of community. It is difficult to explain exactly what I mean by that, but back home (or even more in Israel) creatives are not as numerous as in London. When you meet another creative person, you instantly have so much to talk about, there is a lot animosity and more of a sense of complicity. In London people seem to not always have time for you. When I was in Israel a few months back, I would randomly walk around town and pop into a gallery and end up spending the afternoon there talking with the owners about their work and inspirations. Artists tend to be a lot more modest and wanting to share their experiences with you. I think this is something the ‘younger’ generation of artists in London is truly missing, they think themselves true artists before they even finish their degree.
6. What has contributed the most towards what you have achieved?
Technically, I must say I learned a lot from the technicians down in the printmaking studio in LCC. I owe a lot of my ability to them. Conceptually, I find that my background and ‘heritage’ affect the way I reason and design. Have a Jewish upbringing definitely brought some values into my life which I truly treasure. Something that I recognise of that in my work is my constant obsession with the transmission and reception of information, both visually and conceptually. This is a trend that comes up a lot in my current line of work, as well as the idea of storytelling (which is a form of transmission of information anyways). I think that both these concepts have to do with how I grew up. Storytelling is a big part of Judaism and its holidays, and I used to study the old testament in school. And where the concept of Information is concerned, I have always followed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict quite closely and that must be the greyest area when it comes to ‘objectivity and factual information’.
7. At the age of 20, what did you think you were going to do “in life” – where did you see yourself in the future? Has your dream come true already?
Weirdly enough, I have always wanted to be a teacher. I want to make a difference in peoples lives. Being able to do this while also expressing myself and work on my own projects is great. In design and art education, almost all tutors are practicing artists anyways as it important to be part of the scene in order to pass on the knowledge. I am also glad that I am still interested in printmaking after practicing it almost full time for the whole 4 years of my education and I hope I will keep that interest for a long time to come.
8. What projects are you currently working on?
The freelance work I am currently doing varies quite a lot, which is nice as I get to practice all the skills of my trade. I was doing an illustration brief with a German agency, developing a brand identity and designing a portfolio book for a fashion journalist and printing poster for the university. A bit of everything really! What I am also constantly working on are my personal projects. One of them consist of visually mapping a city using neon signs present in that very city. The signs are rendered into screen printed artwork, which can be recognised by the audience. I plan to take this project to various cities around the world and elaborate on the subject. This is probably my most exciting project, even though I can not for the life of me explain why I am so obsessed with neon signage. I just know that it is a big part of my life now. I even hope to one day visit the Neon Museum in Las Vegas. Ever since a friend of mine told me about the attraction after coming across it on the Neon Mama website, I’ve always wanted to go. It sounds incredible.
9. If you could meet any artist – living or dead – who would it be?
Someone that I currently find very inspiring is Tom Eckersley, an English graphic designer whose style I truly appreciate. If I could chose anyone I would probably want to meet an artist that truly changed the way art and design work these days because of their ‘mad genius’. Marcel Duchamps or Andy Warhol come to mind…I would have the craziest and most agitated arguments about art theory with them, as I love arguing for the sake of doing so (a bit like in Midnight in Paris).
10. And finally, what are you hoping will get you your “15 minutes of fame”?
This neon sign project! I think it is a great concept and I hope I can get local residencies by talking galleries into taking part in this. I would find myself a print studio in that city and work there while I walk around and find the neon signs that define the city for me. Eventually, I could organise a massive exhibition, featuring all the work that I have gathered over the years of traveling… I love these kind of questions, the sky is the limit right?
The traveller corner – Nathan’s tips (if you were to go across 3 countries!)
Art Gallery: Try Hamelaha in Tel Aviv, it is a screen printing studio and gallery space. (http://www.hamelaha.co.il/)
Theatre: Mayumana, in Jaffa (http://www.mayumana.com)
Band: Submotion Orchestra, jazz soul and dubstep!
Gig venue: The Old Blue Last, in London (http://www.theoldbluelast.com/)
Area of the city: Walk along the Schelde in Antwerp, the old port is beautiful!
Shop: Forbidden Planet, in London (http://forbiddenplanet.com/)
Café: Try Dallal in Neve Tsedek (Tel Aviv). It’s a new upcoming neighborhood there with great places to have a drink and some nice food. (http://www.dallal.info/restIndex3.asp?pageId=31)
