The Burden of Art - documentary about working-class artist Steve Burden from London's Pepys Estate
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- Опубліковано 13 лют 2024
- Thanks to Steve Burden
steveburden.co.uk/
Produced by visual hybrid
visualhybrid.co.uk/
Director & Cinematographer - Paul Stevenson
Editor - Chris Urmston
www.chrisurmston.co.uk/
Colour grade - Hannah Squires
www.hannahsquires.co.uk/
Sound mix & sound design - Jack Fletcher
/ missing_reels_
Special thanks to Tony Dowmunt & John White:
B/W 1970s material of the Pepys Estate by the Albany Video Project
courtesy of the London Community Video Archive
the-lcva.co.uk - Фільми й анімація
thanks people.
as a 43 year old, ex labourer, ex carpenter, ex emigrater, council estate boy...now back home...the art finally came out of me at around 38, was accepted into the most prestigious art college in Dublin recently, awarded a scholarship...and now trying to understand where I fit in, who am I, what is my art? this is really hitting a spot and helpful.
congratulations to you brother.
Congratulations, that's good work! Enjoy the art journey
@@visualhybrid Thanks for the great documentary
Your heart is free
@@SteveBurden ❤️ thanks man. love your work and very kind of you to reply. the message in your film is very important, as you already know, and am glad to be able to let you guys know it is reaching us and we appreciate it.
all the best to you all...keep inspiring
The arts are not a luxury. They are as crucial to our well-being, to our very existence, as eating and breathing. Access to them should not be restricted to a privileged few. Nor are they the playground of the intelligentsia. The arts are for everyone - and failure to include everyone diminishes us all. Richard Attenborough.
A great film Steve. Thanks, you have given me food for thought.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Means a lot
You only have to look at Arts Degrees in the UK to see that the Arts are governed by the Middle / Upper Class. Working-class students cannot afford to do Arts Degrees.
Indeed. I'm not a graduate but I do practice art, and recently I was awarded funding from the Arts Council. The DYCP Fund. Develop Your Creative Practice. We have a space where I live which is a space for community to engage in art and creativity.
Great work. Takes talent and drive to get one of the DYCP funds.
Good luck with it
Yes it should be restricted and it is thank goodness.
Brilliant documentary! I’m a delivery driver for UPS, it’s a scum of the earth company, and they like to destroy the drivers confidence etc with their man-management. I dream everyday of sitting at my desk at home doing my watercolour paintings, it’s incredibly frustrating for me. I’m seriously considering getting a much lower paid job just to get away from UPS, and doing my art more. Thanks for sharing your video.
Hold onto thar silent inner spark that drives you, never ever let it go out. God bless
Hi, consider selling small works direct to the public in tourist areas. Get a pedlars certificate, be present painting, people love that and you can make decent money.
Despite growing up in a poor cham household I made the decision to pursue art. Art programs are constantly getting defunded and their aren't many avenues for people in the lower class to get involved in the arts. Going to college for art was a culture shock for me when I met the many people who would pretend being poor only to figure out that their parents have helped them every step of the way. Theirs nothing wrong with parents helping their kids financially but there is definitely a class barrier that pushes away potential artists in the lower class.
Could not agree more. The arts are exclusive!
This is what a REAL PAINTER sounds like and talks about. This is a GREAT INTERVIEW!
Thank you Roberta!
amazing thanks for making it
Thanks for taking the time to comment, really means a lot
Excellent documentary about art and an estate just over the road from the one I grew up on. Whatever we think of those places, if your formative years were there they never leave you. I think of mine fondly but would never go back.
The art establishment is a bit corrupt itself.
Raw and real. So inspiring
Thank you John
as a canadian lower middle, your working class, from the middle of the woods going to school of any sort, reading because you like it, just wasnt done. but the call of the arts is one you cant ignore.
Follow your heart...
Art can't be a paying job for everyone but it can be an avocation for anyone. If you can't help it, paint .
Cool story bro
Blinding little doc. May there be many more
We hope so! Thanks for watching
Nice one Mark. Thank you!
Brilliantly shot, brilliantly executed. A really compelling story with a purpose….and of course wonderful art. ❤
xxx
A very interesting documentary. Many thanks.
Thank you!
Art is there to remind us we are human.
Absolutely!
what about AI-art?
@@maksymrockatansky I've used AI to generate work. The short answer is that it's still got a long way to go. Most of the work I generated using it I could not use - it was rubbish. It is there, though, and will only get better!
More art less A.I. Great documentary!
Couldn't agree more, thanks for watching.
Cheers mate!
Yep...took the words right out of my mouth. I'm totally on the same page and moving from working instinctively to understanding is a whole new chapter. Don't get too pulled into the narrative.
One eye sees - the other feels... (KLEE)
I never really thought about the class divide in Art. Now you have brought it my attention, it is true. A lot of great ground breaking work never gets to levels it should be exposed to because of this closed shop system. I see wonderful works at village markets from artisans and craftsman that is way better than the establishment trash, I mean a banana taped to a wall, WTF is that, it was in a mainstream gallery ?
The only upside is that the people who have an appreciation for real work can afford to purchase it, the downside is the creator lives on tea and biscuits.
Love your story, I’m glad I watched it and it made me think.
All the best and good luck for the future.
Great painting, great film and visceral honesty and intelligence. Know every sinew of where you're from.
Means a lot to read these comments!
Nice one Martin!
I didn't know what middle class people were, until I went to art school. I'd never met any, and I didn't realise that many of my new mates were middle class. Some of the posh university girls were into me. I felt more romantically attuned to them, than the art school girls for some reason, but not exclusively. They were much much nicer to me than many of the girls from where I grew up. I was arty and into strange music, and I dressed oddly, which didn't fly well at home. One of the reasons I fkd off.
A lot of the middle class art set were from arty backgrounds. They were well connected, and soaked up all the good jobs in the arts. Nobody from my family had ever gone to uni or even college. Zero connections there.
My big weaknesses were laziness, girls, beer and exotic roll ups. So ultimately, I put my underachievement down to laziness and debauchery, rather than class. I'm getting old, but working now more like I should have when I was young. I am a sober person. They say there's little chance for over 40s in art... I am in my early 60s now, but I think of it as a challenge. I have always made the occasional sale. I notice now that it's all about politics, in art at this time. The political views of older men don't sit well in the art world, so I keep them to myself
Have you seen our doc film 'Surfaced' about addiction and mental health? Follows ocean photographer Nick Corkill who battles his demons via his love for the sea
ua-cam.com/video/JkIfx1R2H2g/v-deo.html
Thanks for posting. Big up Steve Burden. A great painter
I remember playing a football match against Pepys Social football team at the football pitch on the their estate, scared the life out of me to be honest. Before a ball was kicked I remember feeling completely intimidated, a scary place indeed. Glad you’re making real positives from living, growing up in the area.
Thanks Steve!
Well done Steve, from a fellow working class painter in the US.
Awesome, thank you
Thank You!
Love undiluted (short) docs like these - the perfume lingers! Beautiful artist! About class and the comment that's not going away. Money and position seems to be to go to when thinking about the class system - but attitude is the undercurrent. The boundaries are being pushed and blurred now and the colours will run! Such is the pattern of life.
listening to "No risk, no story | 1 Hour of Stoic Ambience Music" in the background on accident made this so much more impactful. crazy
Glad you liked it
I've had that happen myself on other films, it's always quite surreal! Just recreated your accidental double play and it's definitely intense!
Excellent work man, it's lovely little doc. Really proud to have been able to contribute a small part of it.
Thanks for being a part budd
Top work fella!
100%. It's all about class and he' right, it doesn't get talked about.
Examples of blinding working class artists who had to deal with this stuff are Bacon and Turner. Bacon even affected received English and upper class mannerisms to progress.
Working Class representation in this country is shocking - it does not reflect demographics at all. Totally under-represented - it's the preserve of the elite. Dis-OBEY. Have a VOICE!
'Blinding working class artists'?
brilliant really
Nice one Sam!
great interview and what a great painter, I'll look out for his exhibition
Proud of you Steve. I'm struggling with it myself working in a factory as a cleaner PT. I know one day my time will come. Until then....paint in any free time I get xx
The struggle can be massive motivator though right? Keep painting...
99.9% of artists have first jobs and then paint in their own time - it's hard. But remember, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it! Keep fighting ;-)
Epic doco guys!
Ah thanks ✌️
Electric!
Brilliant . From a fellow working class fella.
Cheers, Brandon!
A working class artist, it's rare to find one alive.
Great interview and well presented, thank you! Louise and Emily ❤
Thank you, Louise and Emily!
👏F8cking brilliant, keep going Mr Burden, yes class is a huge subject for you to tackle yet it is very forceful the way you portray it. You can always step back/take a rest from your subject a bit and return later. Thank you for putting your work in the world.
Thank you!
Authentic…well communicated…”in order to be a true artist you have to commit a significant amount of time feeling sorry for yourself 😟” Picaso might have said that…as an artist I find that it has some merit and a ladle full of irony…stay safe…
Have a story to tell and stick to it - thanks for the reply Norman, Best, Steve
Love it, on ya mate!
Thank you!
@@SteveBurden Seriously, seeing this brief doco is very uplifting esp your story, you know art has always been kind of the plaything of the privileged and so on and you are representing the rest of us mob who love art but wield tools and the weight of our daily lives to get by, so good on you mate, keep it real, go hard or go home! Your paintings are freakin amazing/
"It's taboo to talk about class" !
Sure is! We need to talk more! Thanks for commenting ;-)
Great video!! Even in the US, it seems like the upper class or well-connected middle class find creative success. A lot of us have to have money jobs to support our creative endeavors.
Important video. thank you.
Thank you.
Beautiful. South London never leaves, does it?
Made in Deptford.
Grew up Herne Hill Peabody had youthwork/musicworkshop gigs on The Aylesbury, Rockingham etc, studied at Goldsmiths, worked at Laban etc... have not been back a very long time. Enjoyed your work/stance/film.
@@SteveBurden
Amazing work Steve! All the best Speedy!
Thanks for taking the time to comment 👌
Nice Speedy - thanks for coming to the exhibition mate - meant a lot!
How much for a painting? $$
Art/creative fields claims to be inclusive, but are they inclusive for working class? This is a taboo and it should be discussed more.
Your figures remind me of Francis Bacon, don’t suppose you are a fan? Either way they are very striking pieces.
Good for you x you might want to paint a vase of daffodils next to de stress ;)
Why do you think people pretend to be working class when they’re not? Probably because if they don’t they get dragged into a class war that should really be waged against politicians. Tilly whose parents paid for her art course is not the bourgeois enemy you need to defeat - the government is that creates the class divide is. In any case your art is great and well done for your success. The painting style reminds me of a more experimental Bacon and it really suits the subject matter
When you look at Art Undergraduate degrees in the UK, they are overwhelmingly attended (in excess of 90%) by students from a middle-class background-their parents can afford to send them to Art school and then prop them up when they graduate. (At Goldsmiths, the figures are less than 2% working-class attendance.) This is at the heart of the issue-we need to be more inclusive and represent the social demographics rather than be one-sided. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Best, Steve
@@SteveBurden absolutely, nothing to disagree with what you said. The brightest creative mind I knew was a poet and musician who came from a very working class family of alcoholics and I saw how she could never really reap the rewards of her immense talents due to the chaos of trying to work 2 jobs, avoid exploitation by her landlords, look after her mother, deal with grief of her fathers passing and even more I probably didn’t know about. All while her friends while her musician friends pursued music full time, doing tours around the country and so on, living the life she truly deserved. Sorry if I came across as one sided. I was trying to represent both sides. Being a working class artist is incredibly hard, because the arts are relegated to a leisure activity within capitalism, often the way you have to present yourself as an artist is inherently classist (having to hide what you do for work, pretending you do it full time, make yourself appear much more bougie than you actually are), the fact that studio rent is another overhead on top of residential rent and hundreds of other reasons.
However, class is ultimately material in nature and so you have to approach it on a material level rather than a social one. What does a material solution to this problem look like? Pushing for different tax policies, arts funding, maybe even opening an art university or course which exclusively only selects for artists with lower income backgrounds. Whereas if you frame it as a social or individual problem… I mean no middle class 20 year old artist living their best life wants to be seen as anything as heinous as ‘the enemy of the working class’ and so will probably pretend to be working class to avoid being scrutinised in that way.
Great Reply - keep the faith! Keep making! @@RapidBlindfolds
I despise brutalist architecture with all my soul, they served a purpose beyond utilitarian. They were made to make an impression on the people that lived there.
Intimidating!
It's not taboo to talk about class. Race is the taboo in the UK
Well balanced, a chip on both.
.Token politics they like that.Someone taught him form etc.Good buyers are buying anything interesting now the arts are dead.
There is no such thing as working class anymore
Its not taboo to talk about class structure, thats all you lazy people talk about haha
Oh yeah, prince William and his wife are so hard working unlike us working class people! I mean it’s such a hard work to pose for photos at charity events and to cut ribbons from time to time! They worked so hard for all the things they have. Oh wait, they just inherited them!
A lazy comment.
He is not a painter !!! He is a paint smearer ,!!! Hell of a difference.....in today's terminology you would term it as woke painting !!!
Thanks Ray!
@@SteveBurden no reflection on you... It is the style of painting !!!
He’s an artist. He’s expressing perfectly the chaotic emptiness that us working class kids felt growing up in an urban environment, through the appropriate medium. Possibly the least woke artist I’ve seen in the last 10 years.
@@Olivia-bh7vs paint smearing is woke art !!! You don't seem to know the difference between an artist and an activist !!! A man who cuts a plank in half and hammers two nails into it is not a carpenter !! Someone who smears paint on canvas in an attempt to capture social issues is not a painter !!! One look at the rubbish Pollack produces is proof of that !