Following dialogues with Elena Thomas I’ve been thinking about how others view what I do and what other artists do and what it is that gives work ‘gravitas’.
I always struggle when asked what I do and it took me a long time to be able to say ‘artist’ without feeling like the most pretentious fake ever. For a long time I found it easier to diffuse the ‘a’ word with a prefix of ‘visual’ or ‘installation’ to deflect the effect. Nowadays I am fine with the word but the description still leads me blubbering and blustering with lots of ‘interactive’s and ‘participatory’s thrown in. I usually then make a little joke about it.
THIS IS NOT REALLY WHAT I WANT TO SAY ABOUT MY WORK. WHAT I REALLY WANT TO SAY IS THAT IT IS A SERIOUS COMMENT ON LIFE – however frivoulous it may appear.
It strikes me that I will have an uphill battle to achieve the illusive seriousness given to works from the upper eschelons of the artworld due to the content and medium of my work – and it was with interest today that I listened to the Today programme talking about the work of David Shrigley who has very successfully traversed the divide from cartoonist to serious artist with great skill.
I remember whooping with joy at Grayson Perry’s acceptance speech for the Turner Prize (how many?) years ago – when he said ‘it was about time that a transvestite potter won’. When, I wonder, will it be the day of glory for an artist HOUSEWIFE?
