Orlanda Broom in her studio in Hampshire

British artist Orlanda Broom paints lush, saturated landscapes that celebrate the beauty and wilderness of nature. Candice Tucker visited the artist at Grove Square Galleries, where her work is currently on display, to discuss her painting processes, artistic influences and visions of a rewilded planet

1. How do you typically begin a new body of work?

I tend to work on a few paintings at one time so a body of work tends to naturally come about. I start by putting a lot of paint down on the canvas, and its quite an organic process in that I don’t know what the painting is going to look like at the end. I tend to go with what’s happening on the canvas and then work back from that. The composition will suggest itself once I’ve got quite a few layers of paints down; I will find parts of it that seem to suggest a tree or light or a mountain range, so it’s quite abstract to a point and then I try to organise it.

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2. What draws you to paint with such a vibrant colour palette?

I have always loved colour, and my paintings have always been led almost entirely by colour. In this recent body of work, I think I’ve really ranked up the colour because of the situation that we are in. Everything has felt quite heavy and I think I needed to inject a bit of positivity. It gave me a lot of pleasure to work with fluorescent paints and also, it’s a challenge working with those much brighter colours because it can be more difficult to make things work.

Pink Seekers, 2021, Orlanda Broom

3. Can you tell us a bit about your current exhibition and your portrayal of nature?

The exhibition title is Rewild. I’ve always painted landscapes that aren’t particularly fixed in a point of time and there aren’t any human elements – no structures, no animals – so the question has always been posed: when is this? With these new works, I am answering that question which is: this is the future and this is what I see potentially happening in terms of climate change. It is probably a vision of far, far into the future when wilderness has come back.

Read more: Philip Hewat-Jaboor on how to discover art through materials

4. What role do you think art can play in wider conversations around the environment?

I think it’s up to all of us; it’s something that we all have to address in the way we are moving about the planet and what we’re doing. I don’t think art has to consider these issues, but in a more general sense, we need to change what we’re doing and perhaps, the pandemic has helped. If there is a positive take out of this situation, it’s that things have had to stop and maybe we are realising that we can do things differently. Art fairs, for example, can be online and although it’s not the same, it has shown people that you don’t need to fly to New York when you have a meeting because you can do it on Zoom. That sort of thing will hopefully continue.

Installation view of Orlanda Broom: Rewild at Grove Square Galleries. Photograph by Paul Aitchison

5. How has the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns affected your creativity?

I don’t live in London anymore, I moved out to Hampshire a few years ago, so for me, personally, it had very little impact because I carried on working in my isolated studio. It almost felt like luxury. I always work hard, but it felt like a privilege to have the time to work.

6. Are there any artists, living or dead, who have particularly influenced your work?

That’s an easy and impossible question to answer because there are so many. The beauty of Instagram, for example, is that you can find amazing artists that you wouldn’t know. There are just so many people out there. In terms of artists that I have loved and that have stayed with me from art college years, there are colourists like Gillian Ayres, Albert Irvin and David Hockney. I also love surrealism, artists such as Leonora Carrington. There are so many…

“Orlanda Broom: Rewild” runs until 11 June 2021 at Grove Square Galleries. For more information, visit: grovesquaregalleries.com

Iceberg Between Paulet Island and the Shetland Islands, Antarctica, 2005 by Sebastiao Salgado

As part on an ongoing monthly column for LUX, artnet’s Vice President Sophie Neuendorf discusses how the art industry can support more sustainable businesses practices which will not only benefit the planet, but also the longevity of art and culture

Sophie Neuendorf

Over the past few months, I’ve been hearing a lot about sustainability and ESG reporting. So much so, that it’s even trickling into the art industry. Perhaps, it can be seen as a positive, global reaction to the pandemic – a way of responding to and making sense of a globally shocking and horrific situation. If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that humanity has abused the planet to such an extent that we’re not only facing a pandemic and the ensuing socio-economic consequences, but also rapidly accelerating climate change. And amongst all of this, a new question has surfaced: how do we preserve our personal and cultural heritage in the face of rapidly increasing climate change, a pandemic, and volatile global socio-economic situations?

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The arts industry, like any other industry, should be responsible for affecting positive change. Given that arts and culture define us as individuals as well as nations, the arts arguably have an even greater obligation of setting a positive example to safeguard the future of humanity.

When thinking about sustainability, most of us immediately connect it to climate change and the immediate threat to the environment. Of course, this is true and important, but sustainable business practices are not only about the environment. The three pillars of sustainable business practices are the environment, society, and governance (ESG). The idea behind this multi-lateral approach to conducting business is to promote an equitable, efficient, and environmentally progressive business and society.

Horizontal Aspens, 1958 by Ansel Adams

Similarly, the impact of cultural awareness and investment is no longer limited to the traditional sphere of the art market; it has expanded to include political, economical, and environmental activism. The last two years have seen the rise of the MeToo and Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements, drawing widespread support across multiple industries. Corporations with questionable business ethics across the globe were targeted, just as just, equal opportunity, and environmentally-friendly business practices were sought out and celebrated. As the world seeks to slow the pace of climate change, promote equality, and support billions of people, there are several changes we can make now to spearhead the art world’s support for a sustainable planet.

Read more: Durjoy Rahman on promoting South Asian art

At artnet, I used the past year to compile our first ESG strategy and report. By engaging with Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) reporting and initiatives, we are hoping to continue our ethos of spearheading positive change and sustainable business practices – our clients expect it of us, and many of our employees are also advocates of change. As a purely digital business, we have already recognised the environmental benefits of transacting online. We don’t, for example, ship artworks across the globe for viewings, require artworks to be viewed in person, have large, costly office spaces, or print thousands of catalogues per sale.

Infographic courtesy of artnet

Elsewhere in the art world, Christie’s recently announced a pledge to become carbon neutral by 2030, making it the first of the major auction houses to do so. The company will focus four main areas to meet its carbon goals, including transforming its processes with shipping, travel, building energy, and printed material. The pledge also commits to a 50% reduction in carbon emissions, which includes diverting 90 percent of its waste away from landfills. They will provide clients with packaging and printed material that is 100% recyclable, and have also made the decision to stop publishing weighty, glossed paper catalogues.

For context, at least 7,000 auctions are held annually around the world with a median of 120 lots per sale (according to artnet price database). For nearly all of them, auction houses print catalogues to send around the world to potential buyers. In an era of digitalisation, print catalogues are unnecessarily destructive for the environment. Moreover, historical auction data is much better safeguarded, and more easily accessible for private collectors, appraisers, or wealth managers on an online database than in a printed catalogue on a shelf. This is just one of many areas of change that could be enacted immediately.

Mentawai Climbing a Gigantic Tree to Collect, 2008 by Sebastian Salgado

5 tips for building a sustainable art business:

1. Art businesses should first evaluate their corporations in terms of ESG standards of conducting business and then, establish strategies and targets for the next few years.
2. Take steps to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, which can be direct or indirect emissions. However, it’s important to note that even after significant changes to operations, some emissions will remain.
3. The next step is to calculate the remaining carbon footprint, and take responsibility by financially offsetting those emissions. Money can be invested in projects that plant trees or protect forests, support renewable energy programs, equal opportunity initiatives, or other sustainable business initiatives. Carbon offsetting, which is the process of funding emission-reduction initiatives in an effort to “balance out” your carbon footprint, is one step every responsible art business should take as part of its climate action plan. For context, to offset an equivalent amount of carbon to a cancelled coal power station, $300 million worth of trees would need to be planted. With the carbon calculator recently launched by the Gallery Climate Coalition, artists and galleries can make a good estimate at their carbon footprint and clarify where reductions can be made.
4. Implement checks and balances for not only the environmental changes, but also the social and governance changes (which affect all stakeholders).
5. Make your clients and employees aware of the steps you are taking, and encourage them to join you in this global effort for a sustainable future.

And here’s a final thought: as private collectors, family offices, or businesses, we are often inclined to reduce costs and taxes as much as possible, but I propose the introduction of a voluntary “Green Tax” on the buying and/or selling of art and antiques, which will benefit NGOs working on preserving the environment. Let us forget the short-term gain of wealth accumulation in favour of the long term gain of a greener planet for the next generations.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to decide how you would like to contribute to a sustainable future, not only for the art industry, but for humanity.

Follow Sophie Neuendorf on Instagram: @sophieneuendorf

Chin Cheng-Te, Lee Chia-Hung, Lin Chuan-Kai, and Chen Yi-Chun, still image from Making Friends/ Fire, 2020, mixed media installation, dimensions variable. Videographer: Lee Chia-Hung.

Independent curator Eva Lin worked alongside French philosopher Bruno Latour and Martin Guinard to select contemporary artists and designers interrogating climate issues for the 12th edition of the Taipei biennial. Here, she speaks to Tara Sallaba about experiencing artworks in a digital format and how art can help to raise awareness

Eva Lin. Image by Etang Chen

1. The biennial has transformed the Taipei Fine Arts Museum into “planetarium”, representing different interpretations of the world. Which one most closely aligns with your views and why?

What I want to answer intuitively is the Planet Terrestrial*, but it should be the sum of all planets including the unveiled one. It’s like you plant a tree in your garden and underneath, the tree’s roots are intertwined with other species and cannot be separated anymore. Each mountain is not independent, but a symbiosis interactive with soil, species, bacteria, humidity, sunlight, wind. Geopolitical methods are no longer the answer to climate emergency. All problems nowadays are closely related to ecology, and each of us is no longer an outsider.

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2. How do you think art can most effectively participate in wider discussions around climate change?

We, as art workers, have to be modest about this issue. Art is certainly not the solution; it’s not created for problem solving. However, art can certainly serve as an alarm to wake up audiences and draw attention to social issues which cannot be solved due to the scientific uncertainty.

Liu Chuang, still image from Lithium Lake and the Lonely Island of Polyphony, 2020, 3 channels video, colour, sound, 35mins 55 secs. Courtesy of the artist and Antenna Space

3. Are there any artists who are particularly inspiring you at the moment?

From the biennial, Chang Yu-Tang and for work about the Anthropocene, Forensic Architecture.

Read more: How women artists are reshaping art history

4. How do you think experiencing art through online formats affects our relationship with the pieces?

It’s somehow similar to observing the reflection of the moon on the ocean. You feel really close to the moon as you could actually catch the moon from the water, though you can’t feel the texture and temperature of the moon. We can easily access and experience art through online formats, though we certainly lose something and may not be able to encounter the soul of the piece.

Pierre Huyghe, Exomind (Deep Water), 2017, concrete cast with wax hive, bee colony, figure: 72×60×79 cm, beehive dimensions vary. Courtesy of the artist, Winsing Arts Foundation and Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Photographer: Rex Chu

5. Do you think the art industry is doing enough to be sustainable?

There is still a long way to go. It’s really a lifetime task as the world is changing every day.

6. Once international borders open, which galleries/museums will you be visiting first?

Haus der Kulturen der Welt [HKW] in Berlin.

The Taipei Biennial runs until 12 March 2021 at Taipei Fine Arts Museum. For more information, visit: taipeibiennial.org/2020

*According to the biennial’s press release: ‘Planet Terrestrial restlessly looks for ways to achieve prosperity while staying within the limits of planetary boundaries.’