Today, I have to do some self promotion, even though I’m really not in the mood. But then, if I don’t do it, no one else will. I’ve long given up on the idea that once we exhibit, people will be flocking to see the work.
I did do a quick scan to see if there had been been any reviews anywhere ( wishful thinking!) and I was surprised to find this: http://books-on-books.com/2013/05/19/bookmarking-book-art-wendy-williams/ hmmm… most odd. No idea why he decided to write about me as I don’t know him and he doesn’t appear to live in any of the areas I’ve exhibited in. Got a bit of a shudder over that one.
So….among other things, I’ve sent off a press release to a local paper ( to publicise the Church commission – which I must go back to, now that the shoes are finished!) Its hit and miss if any artists get mentioned as they get inundated with requests, but I’ll try anyway.
The shoes seemed to go down well at the PV on Friday night. It was quite busy and people were asking lots of questions about them. Despite having a brief statement on the wall next to them though, several people were fixated over the fact that they were about the Holocaust. I had been to Auschwitz a few years ago, and although moved by the shoes ( and many other things there) the connection didn’t pop into my head at all when making my shoes.
They are simply a kind of diary for me. Like most people, I pick up a lot of paper in my daily life and most of it is thrown away afterwards. In the installation, is wrapping paper ( from Christmas + my Birthday) Work rotas, magazines and flyers – mostly Tate ones, so they are a personal reflection of the exhibitions I see daily. Nothing sinister or deeply meaningful, other than think about how much we waste. Using ‘Baby shoes’ was depicting naivety over waste.
No doubt I will have the same conversations when I go back.
Yesterday, I went to a talk by photographer Moyra Davey. Her work is amazing, but her presentations are not. It was a very long talk : (
I then picked up my EBay purchase from the Liverpool Art Prize space. They’d asked artists to make an artwork out of a given shape and these were auctioned off on EBay. I was bidding for 5 of them, but because I was working, I couldn’t watch the bidding until the end, so inevitably bid too early. I was really pleased to get one though and it reminded myself that I should try to buy more art!
