I’m really excited to be currently undertaking a month long residency at the Bankside Hotel in London with my representative gallery Degree Art. Due to the Cornavirus pandemic, this will take place virtually, with the paintings produced in my home studio in Cornwall and daily Instagram posts on the Contemporary Collective account.

Proposal: The past year and the circumstances we have all had to endure have brought us to a place where we now have a lot of time to consider how to adapt to a less sociable existence, how to keep our spirits up on a day to day basis and in many cases what it means to be alone. Creativity can be a lonely art, but there is something about solitude that can be incredibly powerful. Being forced to stay home and face your own inner demons can lead to a state of reduced social inhibition and increased freedom. With this in mind, and after months of painting at home with the comfort of music to keep me company, I’ve thought a lot about musicians who have addressed feelings of loneliness and isolation within their work. Subconsciously, I seem to have John Lennon’s song ‘Isolation’ on repeat and this has led to the starting point of the series.

I aim to paint approximately 10 acrylic portraits over the course of the residency (ideally 5 female musicians and 5 male for equal representation) so that ultimately I will create a collection of ‘lonely’ musicians; but the silver lining of this will be that we are all together in this feeling too. I’ve started with John Lennon and Amy Winehouse (Wake up Alone-‘it’s ok in the day I’m staying busy…run around just so I don’t have to think about thinking’ we can all relate!) and as the series progresses I hope to paint contemporary musicians such as Arlo Parks and Michael Kiwanuka. This series will undoubtably continue even after completion of the month.

You can follow the journey here:

https://www.instagram.com/contemporary_collective/?hl=en

And the finished paintings will be available here:

https://www.degreeart.com/artists/anika-manuel

Watch this space for the completed series!