The good thing about a residency is leaving things behind. This is also the bad thing about a residency. In a way I feel as though I have brought with me, on this residency, material that I have, over the years, left behind- or at least neglected. For many years I have been collecting observations (in the form of mobile phone shots and also short text messages, saved also on my phone). I periodically download this material but only recently have I become aware of it’s accruing and increasing potential. With this residency I have chosen to think about this material – it is after all quite portable.
Looking at the images and texts in the studio I have become aware that it reflects my interests in a way I could not have pre-planned. The observations are almost always unpremeditated. These are things that catch me by surprise – usually when I am on my way to somewhere else and when my head is somewhere else. I think of these observations as significant as they pull me out of one state of mind and demand, however gently, my attention. They say something about my mind and something about the world. I have begun to realize this ‘work’ represents the start of everything I do as an artist.
I read a quote by Ruskin which I cannot remember word for word but it went something like:
What is the point of learning how to write if one has nothing to write about or learning how to draw if one has nothing to draw. But learning how to see – when one sees – everything else fall into place.
This is a real butchery of the original I am sure, but the point for me is that, from clear observation a path will become apparent. So for this residency I intend to look back over my recent seeing.
