Mixup

How would you describe your work?

My artwork in general is not about anything concrete like politics, social, behavioural, issues of the day, although something from those 'real world' issues may occasionally crop up, but more a wacky, psychedelic montage of ideas and 'brought to life' worlds that come from my inner self.

Sometimes it's short film or music or images either by collage, photography, paint or with a particular favourite of mine; the photobooth machine. It was often used as a place to practice ideas that may later come to fruition with other mediums or in the photobooth itself.My little worlds have some recurring themes, phrases, characters and images that I have developed over the years. 'Shaving Foam Man' is one such character who has appeared on film and in the photobooth.

It's all a natural journey of experimentation and love of the wacky.

What was your first photobooth photo?

For some unknown reason to me now, I didn't use a photobooth machine until the age of 21, missing out on all that teenage face pulling stuff. In fact it was the only time I used a photobooth machine for purely utilitarian purposes - I needed a passport photo. The next time I used a machine was in 1979. I was travelling with a group of friends each week to various destinations to take part in a photographic session that we called the taking of 'Mad Photos' which generally meant the wearing of masks. We called ourselves many names but one of the earliest was 'Weekend Lunatic'. As we met at the railway station and I had no camera (yet) I decided to use the photobooth while we were waiting using some of the masks and props we were taking with us. At that time my interest with the group was using a super 8mm cine camera to record the days events. I had just bought it after reading 'The Electric Koolaid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe. I had been impressed by the idea of Ken Kesey's group (the 60s counterculture subject of Tom Wolfe's account) filming their own adventures.

What inspires your work? What / who are you main influences?

Generally, colour, popular culture - pop music. The natural world.The love and warmth of family and friends.
The wacky, flippant and slightly psychedelic.

The photobooth; it's a half public/half private place so there is an element of performance to their use (in other words it's 'live'). I've been inspired by all those who have used photobooth machines to make a worthy addition to what can be described as an artform.

What motivated you to get into photography in the first place? How did you get into this type of work?

First I took everyday snapshot family/holiday photos. Then there was these 'crazy photos' that I took with my mates. Then it became a way of documentation of the things I did and then the things I made.

Then the photobooth appeared in my life and many different reasons to use it became apparent. Originally it was a place to show my 'artwork' (masks) and have fun at the same time. I didn't have many other means of recording my work at that time.

Then I liked using the photobooth just for what it was and started to go each week. So, as the years went by, my work became a record of the art I made and as a documentation of the booth itself. It also became a record of me and the family, friends and acquaintances in my life who I took with me.

It just became a love of using the machine that eventually becomes part of your life. In the beginning I liked using the booth because it had no photographer, I was in total control of the output. The restrictions of the machine made me work harder to achieve good images. It's public setting but half private situation made a strong contrast which added to it's appeal.

How do you see your work progressing?

Down the years a lot of my work has been the wacky worlds I have invented or the trying to disguise the real world with masks, effects and perspective. During that time however, there has always been a dominance in my imagery of eyes and the face.

I never worked directly with self image until relatively recently. One of the uses of masks in my work was to hide the face. Nowadays I am happy to work on my own image (maybe it's the right time in my life) but always have a slight effect to it. Anyway my work is split evenly between all aspects of possible uses.

I use all the different formats that can be got from photobooth. At the beginning I used only the strip of 4 type (this is the classic booth style and allowed for lots of spontaneity) unless I found a different format machine on my travels. By the early 90s I was happy to use the square format pictures or the 16 small-size sort. Now I like to use one-image digital machines as much the old ones (which are a bit hard to find anyway).

Anything further to add?

Stephen Howard - Mixup - Biography

Born 14 November 1957 and based in Nottingham, UK, Stephen Howard is an independent artist working within the fields of art, music and popular culture. He has become known by his trademark name 'Mixup'.

His first explorations into art were in the late 1970s when he started documenting with super 8mm cine film the activities of a group of people he was with, who were taking part in photo sessions each week in a different location around the UK using masks to make what they called 'Mad Photos'. He also started using some of his own masks in photobooth machines which started a lifelong addiction to these cultural icons.

Taking his influence from popular culture and particularly the post war popular music explosion he also made his first experiments with musical compositions. From those early days to the present day he has been described as a 'Psychedelic' artist, not so much like the typical 60s imagery but in his love of colour and wacky and sometimes surreal combinations of objects both made and found.

During the 1980s these ideas and practices were refined, used in collaboration and exhibited.

His music developed towards electronic and soundtrack pieces. His use of masks widened into the making of small sculptures later used in animation films and the use of photobooth pictures became a dominant and recognisable aspect of his persona. His strength of imagery is the most recognisable with the face and eyes being his greatest concern.

It was in the late 1980s that he went to the Nottingham Trent University and in 1991 achieved an Honours Degree in Creative Art later supplementing this in the mid 1990s with a Masters Degree.

In 1990 he worked for the first time with Belgrade artist Sasa Markovic in Yugoslavia, his first major collaboration outside the UK. It was from that meeting that he started to build a network of artists who had a common interest in photobooth art, something which has grown into a substantial archive both in real artefacts and as a internet resource - www.mixup.org.uk. Since 1999 Mixup has organised an annual Photobooth Art convention with great success attracting many photobooth artists and enthusiasts alike from places as far of as Germany, France and Yugoslavia and closer to home from Brighton, Birmingham, London and Nottingham.

The refinement of his work has settled into a defined areas - images and sculpture, short film, music and photobooth as his artistic practices. This is balanced with his ability as an organiser and director.

In 2002 he has successfully held the 4th International Photobooth Convention, completed a short film 'A little adventure in Nottingham', undertaken new commissions for CD artwork and helped numerous people with information from his archive regarding the photobooth.