Patrick Finn 147 Maujer St, Apt 7A, Brooklyn, NY 11206 | (908) 420-3141 | finn.patrick.thomas@gmail.com In an era awash in information, readers are looking for content that adds value to their lives. Sensationalism might be effective in the short term, but it will never build a loyal readership or client base. This, at least, is the perspective I take into the workplace. As the sole full time writer and editor at The Cultivist, my job is to create content that helps readers feel connected to the often intimidating world of contemporary art. As a freelance writer for Architizer, my objective was much the same, as I strove to make architecture interesting for readers from all over the world. In both roles, my content helped strengthen the brand by building a relationship with readers. I hope you enjoy the work contained in the following pages, which is a small sampling of my professional output over the past several years. Short Form Copywriting From Instagram captions to ad copy, these clippings reflect what I can do in under 200 words. The Cultivist - About Featured on brochures and other branded materials. The Cultivist is the world’s only global arts club, offering privileged access to every aspect of the art world. We believe that art can make a difference in people’s lives, but in a world that never stops it can be hard to find the time. Our aim is to make it easy. With the coveted Cultivist Card, you can glide into leading museums across the world free of charge, while the dedicated travel concierge team can arrange seamless access to art fairs, openings and more. And that’s just the beginning. We host over a dozen events each month in New York, London, Los Angeles and Brussels. These intimate experiences range from visits to the studios of leading artists to after hours tours of major museums, allowing unprecedented art world access. Welcome to a new world of art. Welcome to The Cultivist. Teaser for The Cultivist App Featured in an email campaign as well as on Instagram. Coming Soon: The Digital Cultivist In the coming months, The Cultivist will launch our revolutionary new app. With a few clicks, you can create your own bespoke travel guides, drawing on exhibition listings and recommendations from famous artists. The app is totally interactive, allowing you to book museum tickets, RSVP to Cultivist events, share travel tips with fellow members, and more. And with the interactive map feature, you’ll always know when you’re in walking distance from an amazing exhibition! Exploring the art world has never been this easy—or this fun. Long Form Editorial Content Over the past three years, I’ve written many articles, from news stories to artist profiles to opinion pieces. I take pride in making sure these articles are always carefully researched. As a former teacher, my bywords as a blogger are “informative and engaging.” If I am able to educate my readers while holding their attention, I feel I have done my job. I believe this kind of high end content is valuable to the outlets I write for, as it helps them build a strong relationship with readers. Jonathan Yeo On Portraiture Interview conducted over email. Published on the members-only Cultivist Website in November 2019 Portraiture is an ancient genre but not a stagnant one. Over millennia, portrait artists have changed with the times, adapting their approach to new ways of understanding identity. And few artists have worked harder to make portraiture relevant in the 21st century than Jonathan Yeo, an artist who has said it's “irresponsible not to take risks.” Last year at the Royal Academy, Jonathan debuted the world’s first bronze sculpture to be designed using virtual reality software. A self-portrait bust titled ‘Homage to Paolozzi,’ the work is constructed from interlocking plates and seems to exist in a state of suspension, as if it is just on the verge of completion. In a way, it recalls the experimental work of the Italian Futurists of the early 20th century, especially Umberto Boccioni, who was obsessed with representing movement in painting and sculpture. We had an amazing time visiting Jonathan's studio last month, where he shared anecdotes about his most memorable subjects and demonstrated the Google tilt pen, a virtual reality tool he’s been experimenting with recently. We continued our conversation over email, turning the focus to his philosophy of portraiture. What drew you to portraiture over other genres of painting? I’ve always found portraiture fascinating and I started drawing faces very early on at school as it helped me to concentrate while I was in class. This early affinity was then coupled with the fact that it was actually very out of fashion when I was younger, as it’s usually interesting to explore what other people aren’t doing. I was in my early 20s—trying to figure out how to be an artist, what to do, thinking about art school—when it struck me that figurative painting wasn’t really being taught. Yet it seemed obvious that this eternal genre wouldn’t be ignored forever. You’ve painted a number of very famous people from life, including controversial world leaders like Tony Blair and David Cameron. How do you approach a subject like this? Do you try to look past the public persona to capture the “real person” or do you take their reputation into account? Sometimes you can’t help but be aware of their story and I think it’s a mistake to start off completely ignorant about a subject’s background but I always try to keep an open mind. I feel the bigger problem is of ‘knowing too much’ and then that prejudicing the work. Ultimately you want it to be accurate and truthful, whether that means reinforcing a stereotype, a preconception of who someone is, or the opposite. More often it’s something completely different as mostly subjects are not what you expect at all. You paint both from life and from photographs. What are the key differences between these two approaches? Photos are convenient but have several limitations so I mostly use a mixture of the two, although I’ve been doing a lot of painting purely from life this year. Working with photos enables you to be more precise, and digital tools allow you to experiment with complex compositions without wasting so many hours making mistakes, but it ultimately slows things down. The main drawback of working exclusively from life is that you are at the mercy of people’s schedules and whether they can sit as long or often as you want. Photos on the other hand are obviously flat, so you are already at a disadvantage in the sense that you’re not reading the three dimensional aspects of a face. But the main issue with photography is that the way someone’s face moves and reacts communicates so much. Finding ways of conveying the subject’s emotions and personality through different expressions and movements is often the crucial element in a portrait, and it is very hard to decode this from photos unless you know the subject really well. This can apply to how they move their hands and their wider body language too, which is not a static thing. In the past few years, you’ve begun painting in virtual reality with the Google tilt brush. How do you envision VR shaping art in the future? I don’t believe it will replace painting at all, but it will make all kinds of 3D work much easier to do, much more accessible, and will ultimately become another tool in the kit. What’s so exciting is that with VR, you don’t need expensive materials to experiment with sculpture, design or architecture, just a headset, which will lower the bar to entry and allow far more people to develop their skills. Plus, unlike existing 3D software, you get to experience an idea in life size, not just on a screen or as a model. VR and Tiltbrush have gotten me hooked on technology, and I’m now experimenting with all kinds of new things, from facial recognition to AI. Currently, I’m building an installation piece which combines several of these new techniques. It’s a steep learning curve Lucian Freud’s London This travel feature was published on the Cultivist’s website in December 2019. A modified version of it lives permanently on The Cultivist app, which is a mobile platform for art enthusiasts. “The man is nothing; the work is everything,” Lucian Freud once said. True to this credo, the painter led a reclusive life, taking great pains to avoid journalists and prospective biographers. Even Freud’s own children said that the only way one could really get to know him was by sitting for a portrait. Eight years after Freud’s death, posing for him is no longer possible. Those looking for insight into the great artist’s life are left with only one option—following in his footsteps. Freud was a man of consistent habits, eating in the same cafés and restaurants nearly every day. With this itinerary, you can relive the routine that sustained Freud's genius while also enjoying some incredible food and drink. And who knows? You may even run into people who knew him during his lifetime. The House on Kensington Church Street Our day in the life of Lucian Freud begins in Notting Hill. Take a moment to stop and admire the exterior of the elegant Georgian townhouse at 138 Kensington Church Street. This was Freud’s home, where he lived and worked from the 1970s until his death in 2011. Freud's home studio on the first floor served as his sole workspace from 2005 onward and was the site where he produced his late-career masterpieces. Freud was a tireless worker, spending seven days a week in the studio and often painting late into the night. And as Freud painted from life, his models were not spared from this grueling process. When David Hockney had his portrait painted, Freud had him sit for a total of 120 hours, stretched out over many months. The Queen got off slightly easier with 20 sessions, each lasting several hours. Brunch at Clarke’s Just steps from Freud’s house is the comfortable and refined Clarke’s, the restaurant where he ate breakfast and lunch nearly every day. The café's owner, Sally Clarke, made sure the restaurant opened early so Freud could enjoy his coffee and Portuguese custard tarts before the morning rush. “Of course I miss him, I got used to seeing him every day,” Sally Clarke wrote in her obituary for Freud, which appeared in the Guardian. “Arriving in the morning, I would often walk past the restaurant and see him through the window, already sitting having breakfast and he would wave with his arms high above his head.” Freud painted Clarke in 2008 and at the time of his death he was working on a second portrait of her. Old Masters at the National Gallery After brunch, hop in a black cab and take a 20 minute ride through Hyde Park to the National Gallery. Like many great painters who were largely self-taught, Freud learned a lot by studying the Old Masters on his own, often spending his afternoons in the National Gallery. In particular, Freud was fond of the Titians in Room 6. To really get inside Freud’s head, try looking at paintings as he did, focusing on their visual qualities rather than their allegorical meanings or historical contexts. “I go to see pictures like going to the doctor, to get some help,” he explained in 2008, during one of only a handful of televised interviews he gave in his life. “That’s what’s so nice about having a National Gallery pass. I revisit particular things.” ‘Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits’ at the Royal Academy of Arts Once you’ve had your fill of the Old Masters, it’s time to see some of Freud’s own work. The Royal Academy is currently presenting an incredibly comprehensive exhibition of his self-portraits, showcasing 50 works created between 1939 and 2003. Known for his unflinchingly naturalistic approach to the human figure, Freud was just as candid in his depictions of himself, and his self-portraits are as honest and revelatory as Rembrandt’s. Make sure to note the way Freud’s style evolved in the 1960s, as he moved toward bolder and less refined brushstrokes. This shift was partly inspired by his friendship with Francis Bacon. ‘Lucian Freud: The Self Portraits’ runs until 26 January and is free to access with your Cultivist Card. Dinner at The Wolseley The Royal Academy is just blocks from The Wolseley, where Freud ate dinner several nights a week. The fare here is comforting and rich, as is the ornate Art Deco decor. Freud was close friends with Jeremy King, the restaurant’s owner, and painted him several times. “I learned a lot about myself,” said King of his experience sitting for Freud. “Not just by looking at the portrait, but talking to him, watching him, and just sitting there. Because, of course, it’s an incredibly meditative experience. You do feel quite exposed.” Nightcap at The French House In the 50s and 60s, Freud was often spotted in Soho alongside Francis Bacon, with whom he enjoyed a rivalrous yet close friendship. Most of the duo’s favorite drinking spots have sadly closed, including the cosmopolitan Gargoyle Club and the gritty Colony Room Club. When the Colony Room Club closed in 2008, many said it represented the end of an era, as bohemian Soho gave way to a neighbourhood besotted with bland chain restaurants. Luckily, one local gem still remains. The French House was originally a German pub called The Wine House, but was renamed after World War II to honor Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the French Resistance, who was said to have been in the pub when he penned his famous speech rallying the French people, ‘À tous les Français.’ In addition to being a favorite haunt of Freud’s, the pub was also frequented by poets including Sylvia Plath and Dylan Thomas. Imagine the conversations that must have taken place here! End your evening at the French House with a celebratory toast to Lucian Freud, a man who lived by his own rules in both his life and art. More Detail Than the Eye Can See: The Hyperrealist Architectural Art of Ben Johnson Published on April 25, 2016 on Architizer When one thinks of hyperrealism—or photorealism as it’s also called—the images that come to mind are usually unsettling. Whether it’s Chuck Close’s monumental portraits or John Baeder’s eerily vacant scenes of Middle America, hyperrealist paintings often venture into the uncanny valley, the space that opens when a representation is so faithful to its source, it threatens to overtake it. It’s no wonder, then, that hyperrealist painters more often than not reach for an everyday subject: a human face, a small-town picturesque or even a fried egg. The estrangement of the familiar is often the key to their allure. Ben Johnson is a different kind of hyperrealist. A British painter active since the 1960s, Johnson is every bit the technical maestro of Close, but he uses his powers to produce works that stun rather than unsettle. His interest has never been in representing the everyday, but rather in capturing the best design with a degree of detail that surpasses the perceptive abilities of either a camera or the naked eye. His depictions of architectural spaces, especially, have earned him a reputation for elevating extraordinary buildings to a realm of perfection only possible within the enclosed frame of a painting. Over the last decade, Johnson has focused his energies on the Alhambra de Granada, the huge palatial complex in Andalusia, Spain, that served for centuries as the seat of the Islamic Nasrid dynasty. One of Spain’s most popular tourist attractions, a visit to the Alhambra is surely on the bucket list of anyone with even a passing interest in Islamic architecture. Magical as the spaces seem taken as a whole, they become all the more magical when viewed up close. The arabesque patterns that coat the walls and ceilings of the palaces are truly dizzying in their intricacy. Johnson’s achievement in the Alhambra series has been to do justice to both elements of the Alhambra’s majesty, the architectural and the decorative. While photographs can capture either the serene quality of the spaces or the magnificent detail of the wall decor, Johnson’s paintings succeed in capturing both at the same time. Through the use of chiaroscuro, a technique of exaggerating contrasts between light and shadow, Johnson is able to make the patterns jump out at the viewer in a way that they never could otherwise, either in a photo or in person. While the paintings are no doubt “realistic”—it really seems like you can walk into them—they are more than that, too. It would not be too much to say that Johnson has realized the architects’ vision to a degree they never could. As one can imagine, creating one of these canvases is a long process. Johnson typically spends nine to 12 months per painting. He works on them in stages, creating stencils from photographs, then transforming the stenciled areas to colored spaces. Interestingly, he does not use brushes, preferring to spray the paint onto the canvas and then use sponges to apply shape and texture. Like the Old Masters, he has a team of people in his studio to help him with each stage of the process. “Each painting is a collaboration that is more important than me as an artist, or me as an individual,” he explains. Sponsored Content On occasion, I have written product advertisements in the form of posts on Architizer, one of the world’s most popular architecture blogs. Apps for Architects: This New iPad App Allows Users to Make Instant 3D Scans of Any Room Published on 10 December 2016 on Architizer. Every so often, a piece of software comes along that makes architects’ lives radically easier. Canvas, a new 3D scanning app for iOS, is one such game-changer. This app is the latest release by the innovative software company Occipital. It is designed to work with another one of the Occiptal’s products—a 3D scanner called Structure that connects to the iPad through the lightning port and uses infrared technology to make 3D scans of interior spaces. The Structure sensor has been around for a while but has never been as usable as it is now that it can be paired with Canvas. This app turns your 3D scans into a readily usable 3D map. As you move the sensor around the room, Canvas’s visual interface guides you, generating paint-like splotches to highlight areas that you missed. When scanning is complete, an interactive 3D model appears instantaneously, ready to be explored and manipulated. Structure is capable of generating thousands of measurements per second. These become especially useful if you use the “Scan to CAD” feature, which allows you to send your raw scan to Occipital. For a fee of $29 per room, the company converts it into a full-color CAD file complete with easy-to-read measurements that cover every single nook and cranny of the space. The days of the tape measurer are numbered. The revolutionary quality of Canvas really becomes apparent when you start to look at pricing and labor time. “Scanning an eight-room home takes about 30 minutes with Structure, while manual measurements would run around seven hours,” writes Tim Moynihan of Wired, citing estimations related to him by Occipital co-founder Jeff Powers. “Contracting the work would cost close to $2,000, while Occipital charges $29 per room for the ‘Scan to CAD’ feature.” Whether you are a contractor, architect or just a fan of nifty gadgets, Canvas promises convenience and fun.
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