Olivia Wilson in Conversation with Artist, Corbin Shaw
Sheffield born-and-bred artist Corbin Shaw tackles burdensome gender norms and concepts of masculinity in his practice, which simultaneously seeks to bridge the gap between art and football. Corbin’s textiles, powerful, confronting and loud, signal the pervasive toxic masculinity that permeates many spaces stereotypically dominated by men: pubs and football grounds. Typical ‘lad culture’ is turned on its head as ‘man up’ is rearticulated as ‘soften up, hard lad.’ ‘Lad culture’ promotes garish masculinity that can be harmful to men and women alike. Corbin’s artwork focuses on the impact it has on men’s mental health and the subsequent erosion of individual integrity.
MADE IN BED’s Reviews Editor, Olivia Wilson, chatted to Corbin about his practice, inspirations, motivations and what is coming next for him.
Corbin Shaw. Source: @corbinshaww on Instagram.
Olivia Wilson: Can you tell us a bit about what drew you to the arts initially and how your current practice has evolved?
Corbin Shaw: I didn’t grow up with an art background at all – instead of going to galleries, I grew up going to the pub to watch football with my Dad. My parents have worked their trades since they were teenagers, and growing up in Sheffield, there was never the expectation that I would be an artist. This led to me being very insecure when I arrived at university; my foreignness to the art world, paired with the references and knowledge of my classmates, led to a very strong sense of imposter syndrome.
But, I’ve been interested in art from a very young age; I always drew my environments and the people within them, so in hindsight, I learned to be observant very early. Growing up going to football with my Dad, I also had to be aware of what was around me on the streets; the violence surrounding local fandom necessitates you keeping your wits about you. I would sit with my mum for hours on, drawing things, which was my mum’s way of calming me down as a hyperactive little kid. But, it was also the beginning of me communicating my thoughts and memories visually. I also had a keen interest in photography and film, which I explored at high school.
One of the Lads, 2020. Source: corbinshaw.com
OW: What is the main message or narrative you wish to communicate through your work?
CS: I would describe my practice as an outlet for me to analyse and question class and the environments that shaped me growing up. The work I make comes from my own experience of spaces such as football grounds, boxing gyms, my Dad’s metal fabrication workplace and the streets and suburbs of Sheffield. My work explores the performance of masculinity in these heteronormative spaces dominated by men.
I question the rites of passage of manhood in England, and the obstacles men pose upon each other in society. I’m interested in the way in which heterosexual men perform as ‘men’ to other men, for their approval or as a tribal act of wanting to fit in. I’m interested in how public notions of masculinity shape our outlooks, and how traditional standards of masculinity have become so ingrained within society and passed down by our fathers.
By documenting the spaces I grew up in, I aim to understand my own idea of masculinity, and what masculinity means to people in similar environments.
Corbin Shaw, Soften Up Hard Lad, 2019. Source: @corbinshaww on Instagram.
OW: Your work encapsulates Northern Britishness, inspired by pubs, gyms and football matches, and grapples with notions of hyper-masculinity. What is it about portraying Northern culture that is so imperative to you?
CS: Growing up in a post-industrial city like Sheffield, one cannot escape a sense of nostalgia – the city pines for its past in the coal mines and the steel trade, industries now lost in post-Thatcher Britain. The result is an unfulfillable legacy, one which rests heavily on the shoulders of the city’s residents. The younger generation of men — my generation — has had to find new ways of expression, but in the ruins of industrial greatness since passed, we only have our cars, our clothes, and our music; that which threatens self-destruction, if it does not promise it outright. My work aims to explore this experience of trying to “fill the boots that have come before,” and the weight of that task’s impossibility.
Source: corbinshaw.com
These issues lay so heavily on my mind because it’s what makes me who I am. I feel as though I have a constant internal conflict of wanting to be ‘one of the lads’ and at the same time being totally alienated by these hypermasculine types. I embody many of these tropes of the men I’ve grown up around, but still am nothing like them in the way I perform. I never felt at home in the pub back home or in an art gallery. Yet, I feel being on the boundaries of those two worlds is a special place to be as I can dip my toes into both worlds whilst keeping a safe distance.
Corbin Shaw, Men of Steel, 2020. Source: corbinshaw.com
OW: I love your iconic “Crying” piece, in which you substitute the recognisable Carling logo with “Crying,” followed by the slogan: “probably the best way to get things off your chest.” Men’s mental health has been the topic of many current conversations. Do you think there needs to be more open conversation surrounding men’s struggles with mental health issues, especially within sports?
CW: I think sports offer people a community and a sense of place/home. I feel that a community is important for young men in order to express themselves, especially when their actions are so heavily policed by who is around them and society. Social spaces and sports teams offer a safe space to feel like you're a part of something and you have someone to talk to. But just as much as these groups can be beneficial, they can also be destructive. I have felt a sense of pressure to conform to the standards of what a “northern man” is like in spaces like the pub. As you get older you become more aware that there is a strict dress code, a way of speaking and way of posturing in spaces like the pub.
I think it’s so important that football teams keep pushing to normalise speaking about how you feel as a young man.
Corbin Shaw, Crying. Source: corbinshaw.com
OW: What is your favourite piece you have released?
CS: “The English Dream”, created after a conversation in a local caf with a fellow Northerner about the pressures of what’s expected of you growing up in an English village or suburb. We’re led to believe that by achieving certain things (a job, a car, getting married, a mortgage) we will inevitably be happy - this is not the case. The words on the flag are very much influenced by the ‘Choose Life’ speech in Trainspotting and an old car insurance advert by ‘swift cover’ with Iggy Pop that had the famous tagline ‘get a life, get swift covered.’
With my work I’m always trying to boil down big concepts and critiques on English life into four quadrants on a flag, it almost feels like advertising a new vision of England: a rebranding so to speak.
The English Dream, 2020. Source: corbinshaw.com
OW: And finally, who is your favourite up-and-coming artist?
CS: Mitch Vowles.
Vowles’ practice is made up mostly of installations, film, sculpture, and is largely based around observation: his way of seeing, hearing and experiencing life. He is inspired by a trip down the pub, being at a club or even having dinner with his family. He seeks new meanings in pre-existing objects, like pool tables, motorbikes and TVs. Both myself and Mitch share similar themes and visual languages in our work. I can't sing his praises enough.
Instagram: @mitchvowles
Website: https://www.mitchvowles.com/
Thank you, Corbin.
Discover Corbin’s work on his website and Instagram: @corbinshaww.
Olivia Wilson
Reviews Editor, MADE IN BED