ART | thomas brodie-sangster [✓]

F O U R T E E N

It must be hard for you to be self-conscious. Is that why you're keeping your identity a secret?

"Not exactly. I've gotten to the point where I'm perfectly content with who I am right now and I wouldn't change it for a million pounds. You can beat it. It's hard and a pain in the arse, but it's possible. That's one of the messages I'm trying to send out by my paintings."

So, what is it then? Why are you so secretive?

"You're going to laugh."

No, no! I promise I won't.

"Okay." She sighs. "I feel like, during centuries, the whole point of art's been twisted. It's just, I mean, you look at the painting and the first thing you'll be told about it is that it was painted by Van Gogh. It changes your view of it and distorts it, because you know what Van Gogh went through and you know what it must've felt like for him to paint that certain painting."

And that's bad?

"Yes. Because the whole point of art is that you don't have to know the artist's sad story to understand what he was trying to say. You shouldn't have to, that is. It stops being art and it becomes a part of his life story.

What I'm saying is that I don't want that. I don't want people to look at my painting and go, 'Oh, she must've felt really sad when she painted that. I assume that because I heard she had a pretty rough growing up. It must be a part of it, shown here.' That's not the right thing. I want them to feel the painting, not think about my story. Art's not about who created it. It's about itself.

So, if I let out my identity, I'll have people thinking my paintings show a part of my life. That's not what I want."

But don't they show a part of your life?

"No, most of the time they don't. I take inspiration from everything. Best inspiration is gotten from the little things. I mean, have you ever looked at tea? Like, the way it flows smoothly into the mug and it fills it up and it feels me with some kind of content because, you know, things like that exist. Perfectly normal, smooth things that we don't notice because we're so used to looking at the big picture that we don't notice the wonderful details. It's actually really sad when you think about it."

That was . . . well, eye-opening.

Art laughs.

So, let's see if I got it right. The reason why you're keeping your identity secret is because you think that if it's not secret, people won't see your paintings as paintings but as YOUR paintings. It will then change the way they perceive it and ruin the point of the painting.

"Yes, that's right."

Okay, that's good to know. How old are you, actually?

"In my early twenties."

Can we know your name?

She laughs again. "No, sorry."

The first one, at least? Please?

"No, I'm not comfortable with that."

Okay, then. Can I ask you a personal question?

"How personal?"

I don't know. From one to ten, probably a five.

"Eh, okay. I might not answer, though."

That's fine. So, Art, rumour has it that you and mister Thomas Sangster are dating.

She laughs. "What?! Oh my god, no way! Okay, I have no idea how people came up with that. We're most definitely not dating. We just sometimes talk on Twitter, and those conversations are only friendly, and even that wouldn't exactly be a good way to address them.

Oh, no Thomart then?

"Bloody hell, it's the ship name again, isn't it? No, no Thomart."

Too bad. I shipped you guys.

"Aren't you, like, thirty something?"

Thirty-four, may I say. And, who cares about the age? Shipping's not restricted to only teenage girls.

"Oh. That's horrible. I hate shipping."

You'll get used to it.

"Hope not."

One more question? Actually, two more?

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

How do we write your name? I mean, Art? Is it in all capitals, as you have as your screen name of Twitter, or big 'A' and small 'r and t'?

She laughs again. "It's like any other name. Honestly, I never thought I'd be asked that."

Oh, well, I needed to check. Ready for the last one?

"Are we ever really ready for anything?"

Okay, I've had enough deep things to think about for today, Art.

"Sorry. Can't help it."

Just kidding, I love it when you do that. So, during your exhibition at Queen Boadicea Gallery, some claimed to have seen a hidden message on the paintings. It read, according to them, 'ART IS NOT MY NAME IT IS WHAT I AM'. Why that? Don't you think it's a little bit, um, pretentious?

She's silent for a few seconds. "No. I mean, the words by themselves are, unless you know the meaning behind them. As I already said, I've been self-conscious for a long time, and only a while ago did I realize it wasn't worth it. I'm beautiful and I'm great and I'm unique and so is everyone else on this world. I wasn't meaning it in any type or religious message, since I don't believe it anything like that, but I was stating it from an artist's point of view.

When I look at people, I see their flaws and I see their vices. They're all like little puzzles, each of them different. No one's just good or just bad and we're all a mix of both. The second part of the message, 'IT IS WHAT I AM', refers not to only me but to everyone. We're not machines. We're beautiful and we need to see ourselves as such. The society . . . well, I don't want to talk about that. Everybody knows it's not really at a good point. It's just, we've got to stay true to ourselves.

On the other hand, I guess you could say it's pretentious. It's a bit odd, I admit, but to me, it's true, so I don't think it's pretentious. But it's okay if people think it is, we all have different opinions. I think I just wanted to show that you don't have to understand me to understand my paintings. I'm one thing, my paintings are another and that's it. I want people to stop mixing those two up."

This is really nice, Art! Anyway, our time's come to an end. It was a lovely time talking to you.

"Thanks, you too."

Art is . . . well, I guess you could say she's a mystery. She's definitely someone we look forward to seeing more of and I bet this interview has only got us more interested in her identity. Here's the thing, though – if someone asks you not to try and uncover their identity, don't. It's a privacy thing and we should all respect it, despite how much we wanted to know the truth.

I hope this wasn'tthe last time we had a chance to interview this beautiful person – yes, Art isan incredibly kind, cheerful, passionate and sweet person. I hope the world'sready for the impact she's going to bring, because it's already happening.    

[so this chapter is a little different but i think it's basically the key to understanding art. so nope, she's not just some stuck-up girl thinking she's the new picasso (may i just say, art doesn't like picasso). i hope you enjoyed this.]