Tell us about Interval. What is it, where did it start and how did it come about?
Jacob: Interval is an art gallery that shows contemporary artists alongside historical works and references. It came about because of the building which came first when we found this Georgian building in Clerkenwell. When renovating, we were thinking about what to do with the commercial space on the bottom two floors. My dad had worked in the art world for 40 years and I hadn’t. So, we decided to take the leap and start something new. The idea of the gallery was to merge both of our interests, such as historical art, design and interiors, but also contemporary art and how they all meet and find a happy peace.
David: We were looking for somewhere to live, we'd been living in Highgate, our sons had left home, our dog no longer lived. We were at a certain point in our lives where we wanted to be nearer cultural venues like the Barbican, British Museum, Sadler's Wells and the Royal Opera. My wife loves those things very much and her studio is quite near in Hoxton. Jacob actually discovered it, he said it needs a lot of work but it's got a really wonderful sense of itself and the possibility that we could set up a gallery together - that hadn't really been in our consciousness of what we were looking for. It was a rethink of who we are and what we’re doing for all of us really, even though I've been in the art world, neither of us had run our own gallery.
Are there any periods or styles of art that Interval is particularly drawn to when you work with artists?
David: Like Jacob said, we work with contemporary artists and we connect to art history in some way. We exhibit contemporary artists who are influenced by older work or we will draw parallels when we find them. And that's kind of open, we're not defining what that kind of work is. And with the historic works, it might be an artist from 500 years ago or artwork, or an artist from the last 100 years or 50 years.
Jacob: It could even be an artefact. The last show we had, with Simon Moretti, he did an installation based on Lacanian philosophy. But the historic element of that was including a 16th century helmet from Judenbattle from Germany and the Coronation of the Virgin as well from the same period of time. We put these alongside his neon signs and Picasso-style etchings.
David: There's something about the choice of work that makes sense of this space. It's 1790s built, so it's got its own history. Not all work is going to look great in a space like this. So, it's trying to find artists we want to work with that do make sense here. Then even the pairings, the historic sense of them has a sort of home here because it has that history and evocative feeling - even downstairs it's kind of raw brick. Work looks different in that kind of space. It's not a white wall space. It's very much spanning its history of 1790 to the present day which is why we chose the word Interval. All those gaps and all that time together.
What is it like to run a gallery as father and son?
Jacob: It's great. We've always had a very close relationship. Our whole family is very close. We moved out of the family home to this building. There's just one bedroom upstairs that my parents live in. It's also got quite a homely atmosphere when you come into the space as well. But working together has always felt quite seamless, we are able to be very direct and our conversations are very easy to have.
David: I've sometimes seen it like the possibility of what it might be like to be a twin. We have some innate things that we don't have to always say. Sometimes we're in a meeting, we can almost second-guess each other, or we both think the same thing. Sometimes not, but we then we iron those things out later on.
Even in this conversation, there might be something we might disagree on, but it's not a problem. That's kind of amazing. Also, the joy of working with someone you actually genuinely love is brilliant. Obviously, maybe if you employed somebody or somebody worked with you that you didn't know before, that has its own pluses and negatives.
Your current show is Frederick Anderson, Newport, 1958. Can you tell us a bit more about the exhibition and Frederick Anderson?
Jacob: This exhibition is centred around Frederick's work, but it's also looking at the influence jazz music has had on him as an artist. His process starts by obsessively listening to jazz from the late 1950s. He starts by making these works on very small pieces of paper, and then they're very precisely expanded, going from a very fluid and intuitive process to actually a very precise and delicate end product, which still has that fluid element to it.
Downstairs, we are playing Jazz on a Summer’s Day, which is a great film. That's all based on Newport Jazz Festival in 1958, and that's the exact era of music that Frederick tends to listen to when he makes his works. We're also looking at his mark-making and the artists and practises that have referenced that. There's a small book on Japanese calligraphy that comes from an indigo dye book. There's also a portfolio of lithographs by Antoni Tàpies - one of his greatest influences.
David, you've been an Oliver Spencer customer for some time. What's your favourite Oliver Spencer item of clothing, or clothing in plural, I guess, and why?
David: Well, quite a few years ago, Jacob's brother, my other son, Isaac, was working at Oliver Spencer, and I got the chance to try on some clothes that I might never have tried on because I had a reason to go in the store because I love that son as much as this one. He's there, and I could do that thing where you're trying things on with the comfort of knowing somebody's going to look at you and go, that works - or not. Pretty soon, I tried on some indigo judo pants and matching Hythe jacket, it was like a French worker's jacket - I thought, ooh, I like this.
Straight away, I felt like I had my art world uniform, but it's not just for the art world. I just felt bonded with it, almost, immediately. I've now got two, maybe three... I've never been stopped in the street so much. As a middle-aged man, being stopped by younger men saying how cool I look is pretty good. So probably that helped me keep wearing it. Now it's just my go-to everyday uniform.
So lastly, what's next for Interval?
Jacob: So, the next show we have at Interval is very exciting, every summer we're going to feature a graduate. And this year it is Scarlet Topley whose work is very influenced by Ed Ruscha. So we're showing them alongside some Ed Ruscha works. Her practice is very multimedia, and there are going to be little sculptures and installations, but also these beautiful, delicate paintings. In the basement, we're going to build her garden shed in the basement, because for years she's used that as her studio, in which she’s done her own little exhibitions in this shed. And the last one I went to, I just thought it was the most amazing thing.
At at the end of the year we’re going to curate a show by my mother, Jane Bustin alongside a few other artists such as Lewis Brander, Gal Schindler, Edwina Leapman, looking at their influence on each other as a group. It’s called The Shudder, and it’s about that tingly feeling when you look at a painting - so we're going to have works that emulate that feeling.
But the Graduate show is every year. The goal with that is to nurture a relationship with the graduate and work with them closely for a period of time with the end goal of trying to place the right gallery for them.
David: You know, that nurturing word that Jacob uses, that's really our modus operandi. We want this to be a space where anyone can walk in from the community, other artists, students, and all feel somewhat nurtured and welcome. It's not always easy looking at art and not everyone feels comfortable walking into a gallery space. Maybe it’s because I live here, but I want people to feel like when they’re walking into this place, they will be personally welcomed. We wanted to create an environment that’s warm and we’re finding the conversations we have with people who enter really interesting.
To learn more about David and Jacob's work at Interval, visit interval-clerkenwell.art/
