Copenhagen’s David Risley Gallery plays host to This is our Art This is our Music, an exhibition exploring music by artists and art by musicians. The names exhibited speak for themselves – take a deep breath as this is just a selection: Alan Vega, Jennifer Herrema (click for our interview from last year), Daniel Johnston, Robert Crumb, Lydia Lunch, Cerith Wyn Evans, Ian Dury, David Byrne, Yamantaka Eye and James Cauty. The gallery boasts a resident record store, titled The Gutter which acts as the foundation for the show and features music from the likes of Dinos Chapman, Meredith Monk, Kim Gordon, Jeremy Deller and Yoko Ono. As Risley explains, it’s a (blurred) insight into a creative world where language is constantly evolving. Listen up.

Tempe Nakiska: Where does your fascination with the crossover between musicians and artists come from?
David Risley: I think it comes from an obsession with both. Usually when I spend time with artists we talk about music.

TN: What kinds of conversations do you have?
DR: I was on foundation course with Graham Dolphin and at art school with him over 20 years ago and we grew up collecting records, making tapes, seeing bands together. His work is often about music and music culture so that’s an ongoing dialogue. Dexter Dalwood was in The Cortinas, a punk band from Bristol in 1977. I go to a small heavy metal festival in the Swedish forest every year with James Aldridge and Charlie Woolley. Charlie Roberts makes music (he has a rap group, has had a bluegrass band and a rock band). He also makes work music and musicians. It’s an ongoing, constant, thing.

TN: What were you trying to communicate with this exhibition?
DR: Initially it was just a show I wanted to see so I made it. Now I think it is about creativity in a way. The impulse to create. A lot of the musicians and artists come out of a punk base. I think within the show the atmosphere, energy and intentions is as important as the end product. Like, learnt three chords, form a band.

T-Shirts – Ross Sinclair, from left – Guy Blakeslee, T.S Høegh, Nis Bysted, Franz Beckerlee, Ian Dury, Tobias R Kirstein, Zven Balslev, Grafitti – Jim Drain, from ‘This is our Art This is our Music’, Davis Risley Gallery 2014

Artwork by Big Bottom, l-r Alan Vega (Suicide), Daniel Johnston, Brian DeGraw (Gang Gang Dance), Bjorn Copeland (Black Dice), Zven Balslev, 3 x Jad Fair (Half Japanese), 3 x Vaginal Davis (Black Fag), wall text – Martin Creed,  Jim Drain. From ‘This is our Art This is our Music’, David Risley Gallery 2014

TN: Can you elaborate on name of your record store, ‘The Gutter’?
DR: The Gutter comes from comic book theory, the space between two panels in a comic strip, the space where time and meaning occur. That’s how I always felt about record stores.

TN: What do you think continues to draw musicians to create larger bodies of artwork outside the realm of music?
DR: It totally depends on the individual. The public perception of a musician or artist is often very different to their self image. Some musicians have always considered themselves artists and vice versa. Putting this show together I was interested in creativity, not necessarily the end product of it but the impulse.

TN: Is it simply a trait of a creative person to be drawn to other aspects of creativity, or is there a deeper connection between music and art at play here?
DR: Again, that’s different in every case. With some, Daniel Johnston, for example, I think both arrive at once. They come out of the same well. With others they are extremely accomplished in one field and almost naive in another. That interests me, how the language shifts.

TN: There are so many facets to somebody like David Byrne’s artwork. Are categories like music and art superfluous for such an artist?
DR: That depends on which lawyer you ask.

This is our Art This is our Music runs until 5th April at David Risley Gallery, Bredgade 65A, 1260 Copenhagen, Denmark