Tamsin Nagel: “Sad Supermarket Stems”
September Sunflower, Tesco
Pencil on Paper, 41 x 55.5 cm
Available
Artist Tamsin Nagel produces delicate pencil drawings of flowers that have passed their lifespans. Her drawings invoke a flooding sense of silence and melancholic unease—until the viewer is left swimming, in memories and experiences, sensations of brittle flower petals and the dampness of cold, rainy evenings. The Baram House spoke to Tamsin about her ongoing project, titled “Sad Supermarket Stems.”
By Yoojin Shin
Ms. Tamsin Nagel, welcome to The Baram House! Please briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi! I’m Tamsin, a German artist living and working in London.
When and how did you begin creating? Were there any events or people that were instrumental in your artistic journey?
I think I was always encouraged to be creative—my mother is a sculptor, and quite a few of my family members are artists or creative themselves, so it felt really normal. I grew up pre-tablets, with Windows 95, so a lot of my time was spent drawing, coloring, and making things with my hands. Coloring was my favorite though—I was so strict about it, I hated it when the color went outside the lines! I think that’s stuck with me a little bit.
Autumn Cheer (Sainsburys)
Pencil on Paper, 68.3 x 80 cm
Available
October Chrysanthemum, Morrisons
Pencil on Paper, 62.85 x 69.2cm
Available
At what point did you transition into detailed pencil drawings? Why do you prefer pencil over other media?
I don’t think it was ever a pre-meditated decision; when I was in high school, I mainly worked with paints and clay and somehow, through my BA, and then my MA, I seemed to eliminate all other materials. The pencil just lets me communicate in a really natural, clear way that I didn’t feel other mediums let me. It has a soft subtleness that’s also quite raw and straight forward. It has a tone of voice that I can’t replicate in other mediums.
Paper and pencil: do you have any particular preferences on size, types, or brands?
Pencil—I stick to mechanical pencils and always at least a 2B. I need the lead to be really sharp, if I used regular pencils I would just spend all my time sharpening!
As for paper, I’m super picky. I work off of a 10m 300 gsm Saunders Waterford roll. It’s made of cotton, and has such a satisfying weight and texture. The pencil sits so perfectly on the surface, it’s smooth as butter!
May Peony, Tesco
Pencil on Paper, 56 x 67 cm
Available
Let’s talk about your ongoing project, which you seem to call “Sad Supermarket Stems.” What were your motivations behind it?
I’ve always been drawn to stories, images, and objects that look beautiful from afar but on second glance aren’t quite what they seem. I wanted to create a series of still-life drawings that weren’t just exploring the beauty of flowers, but also the rapid decay and vapid consumption of these stunning natural things.
The intention of the flowers versus the ugliness of their consumption—they’re often catering to major life events that have been turned into consumer staples like birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and end up in the bin after a week.
I really loved the idea of presenting them as beautiful, almost sombre, still-lifes, inspired by the Bosschaert Dynasty, named after the supermarket they were bought from, and named after the bouquet name the supermarket advertised them as (e.g. “To My Mother”; “Gift Bouquet”; “Autumn Cheer”; “I Adore You”).
April Stocks, Lidl
Pencil on Paper, 63.9 x 76.9 cm
Available
Take us through your working process of capturing the supermarket stems.
It actually ends up being quite a long process—I go to big chain supermarkets around London, buying bouquets (especially ones that have silly names), and then the flowers sit in my living room, or my storage room if I get bad allergies, until they start turning sad. At this point I start documenting them with photographs, and capture the flowers at a point where they’re wilting, a little moldy, but hopefully still beautiful. I then spend a couple of months drawing the stems and bouquets, referencing the photograph. Sometimes the process can take six months from start to finish.
To My Mother (Waitrose)
Pencil on Paper, 76.8 x 73.9 cm
Available
What has been the most difficult flower to capture?
I think the most difficult flowers are either really flimsy filler foliage (e.g. gypsophilia), or the more traditionally “beautiful” flowers like lilies. It’s almost easier when the flowers are a little uglier to start with.
Do you have any plans to incorporate color to your floral drawings, as you have done in the past?
I don’t think so—not for now anyway. I’ve always been drawn to black and white photography, and some of my favorite films are black and white—there’s a certain tone that it evokes, and I think color can take away from that. I want the flowers to be beautiful, sad, but also evoke a sense of wryness. There’s a subtle humor in the drawings that I don’t want color to drown. Sometimes color feels too easy, it can make things mean a little less.
In your opinion, what is the most difficult aspect of being an emerging artist? And why do you continue creating regardless?
I think in some ways it’s easier to be an emerging artist in this age of social media, and then in other ways, it’s really hard. My work feels a lot more traditional in the sense that it really lives when seen in person. Detailed pencil drawings are never going to win on Instagram when you’re bombarded with cute colorful squares.
I was never sure whether I was one of those artists who would be able to create constantly, regardless. When I first finished my Masters, I spent a few years really struggling to motivate myself to make work. I had to take a bit of a break after being in school non-stop since the age of five. Somehow it feels like so much a part of my identity that I didn’t stay away for long, and now it’s almost a form of therapy. It relaxes me, and makes me feel like I’ve achieved something—even if no one is seeing it. Of course, it’s always nice to get validation, but at the end of the day, I’m doing it for me. I know that if I wasn’t doing it, I’d be a lot less happy.
January Daffodils, Spar
Pencil on Paper, 47.5 x 60.5 cm
Available
Tamsin Nagel creates intricately detailed pencil drawings that explore seemingly beautiful subjects with solemn undertones. After completing her BA at Camberwell College of Art, and her MA at Royal College of Art, Tamsin won the 2013 Jerwood Drawing Prize student award. She was born in Berlin, but is now based in London. You can keep up with her artworks on her Instagram.
