So – everybody is still out there in the blog ether; such a good feeling. Thank you.
The last few days I have been feeling my way back, working a little and making forays to exhibitions.
Thursday I went to Battle to the PV of ‘Transititions’ ? a photography exhibition staged by the Pure Art Group that has quietly begun to do more and more for Kent artists. Photography wouldn’t be my first choice for an exhibition an hour away but I went primarily because some of the participants are friends and acquaintances since working in Hastings last year and I fancied being in the company of artists again.
Driving back I mused on how I had approached the show. I know nothing about the finer technicalities of photography ? so I could only approach it using the same critical and interrogatory techniques that I would use in a contemporary art show. Here it was deliberately curated with small name labels at almost floor level and was totally statement free.
I had to look and look and look again. No ?asking? the artist what they thought I was looking at. No clues. I found it strangely liberating.
I realised that when I approach an art show I still approach it in the way I did as an art history degree student many years ago – somewhat combatively- I will stay here until I have worked this out!
With photography I didn’t expect myself to know what I was looking at or to be able to make a meaningful contribution. In fact I spent most of my evening asking photographers about the work, asking basic questions and getting fascinating, complex answers. A lesson in there for sure.
