Joanne Robertson

🫶Collaborating with friends, 📖Jasper Baydala/Kool Music, ♥️ Derek Bailey ‘Improvisation’ 1980, and more.

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A TASTE OF TASTE WITH Joanne Robertson

🫶 🖌️ ♥️ 📖 🍴

April 1, 2025

Joanne Robertson is a Glasgow-based painter, singer / songwriter, and poet, who is represented by Edouard Montassut in Paris and Company in New York. The multi-hyphenate has exhibited work, from performances to paintings, at venues like Tate St. Ives, Haus der Kunst, and the ICA London. A shining part of Joanne’s creative ethos is her collaborative strength— demonstrated in 2024’s BACKSTAGE RAVER (one of our favorite projects of last year)** with longtime collaborator Dean Blunt, as well as her projects with artists like Sidsel Meineche Hansen and Oliver Coates. In addition to BACKSTAGE RAVER, Joanne had a standout year in 2024, including her solo exhibition “Field” at Company Gallery in New York City and a feature on Elias Rønnenfelt’s debut solo album Heavy Glory. She has a new solo album coming out on AD93 this year, and we can't wait to hear it. Lucky for us, Joanne’s here to tell us what she’s been into.

WHAT Joanne Robertson IS INTO...

🫶

Collaborating with friends

I often work alone, however, friendship and hanging out with friends who make you laugh is very good for you, and sometimes that turns into art, I guess. I’m not totally sure how, but it often happens with my friends. Sidsel Meineche Hansen and I recently made the record ‘Alien Baby’. We also made some ‘Globe’ paintings, and I wrote a short soundtrack piece for a video she made with Reba Maybury, called ‘Day of Wrath’. ’Fingerblades’ is a recent duo exhibition of solo paintings, made with Rachal Bradley. I’ve known Rachal since we were kids at school, and I love her very much. Rachal is currently working on a film about Japanese fashion and the north-west of England, where we both grew up.

🖌️

Improvisation/Painting/Mornings

Throughout January, I’d wake up, light a fire, and play a yellow sleeved record I found in a charity shop. As a compilation it confuses a little in terms of who wrote what, after researching the tracks, it’s mostly the collaborations between Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. I’m making new paintings at the moment, and some jazz music really keeps the paint loose. I was almost studying ‘Moose the Mooche’ and ‘A Night in Tunisia’ before walking to the studio. Another musician who I’m close with is Heather Leigh. She is an amazing improviser and she inspires me. Check the albums ‘I Abused Animal’, ‘Throne’, the song ‘Prelude to Goddess’ is about me. Heather also played extensively with Peter Brötzmann, and she creates beautiful gardens too @theglamgardener

♥️

Derek Bailey ‘Improvisation’ 1980

Karen Brookman Bailey, who was an amazing artist and friend of mine, handed me her husband's book one afternoon after I’d picked her up some cigarettes. I used to spend large amounts of time hanging out with her at the couples' house in London. Another object she gave to me was the DVD for this, Derek Bailey & Min Tanaka - Mountain Stage (1993). Karen and I met, not through the music world, but rather randomly. One day I was taking these discarded beautiful sash windows off the street in Clapton, to use as a paint palette in my studio, and Karen’s brother was doing something similar, so we started chatting and he invited me to meet his sister, as she was having a yard sale that day, and that’s how our friendship began. I love free jazz, it’s good for you. I like the anti-consumerist attitude...however complex, it’s worth experiencing.

📖

Jasper Baydala/Kool Music

Jasper is a writer of books. He also makes music as Kool Music. Jasper is a polymath, and he never stops working. He reminded me of my favourite artists when I first met him. There is not an over concern with the audience, he just gets on with it. Some of his most recent writing appeared in the NY based 'Heavy Traffic’ publication. You can find his music through Feeding Tube Records, Escho, Arbutus and Nina Protocol.

🍴

‘Gloriosa’ restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland

Rosie Healey cooks dream food. Fresh yum amazing, she teaches me to make things I love too, like the magic dressings and green sauce. I am not as good as her and she sometimes laughs when I make gravy.

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Joanne Robertson

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