I was in the dentists 4 days ago and the dentist’s assistant said to me, ‘I hear you’re an artist?’
I smiled and said, ‘who told you that then’
she said, I have well informed sources!’
I said , ‘I’ve been rumbled then’.
she said, what sort of art do you do?…..painting?
Why does every one say that, ‘do you Paint’. Is it because that is what they think art is?
I did not say that, but said, ‘No…I used to paint, but I always work in public spaces now like parks, or town squares, nature reserves or train station type places’. And waited to see what she said.
I don’t think she was interested and wanted to tell me about her daughter who was an artist and went on to list the colleges or universities she had gone to and some places where she had exhibitions.
I said, ‘she sounds like she is busy then’!
I then had more information about her most recent exhibition currently on now and something about shipping her work to Australia and I wondered inwardly who might have paid those shipping costs, I think these shipping costs were in the future, but as I had just received quite a lot of information I was a little muddled and didn’t quite know what to say next.
What I should have said was ‘Where about in Australia?’
What came out after what seemed like just slightly too long was ‘I don’t tend to do exhibitions’. At this point And I was expecting to have to open my mouth and be unable to speak….But
She said what do you do then if you don’t have exhibitions of your paintings?
I explained that I responded to adverts in the trade press where artists were paid to make commissioned work using lottery funding or some kind of public funds.
This triggered a response ‘she doesn’t pay for the petrol or the gallery hire….no guess who pays that’? I did not have to guess because I knew it was her family. ‘No it is difficult’ I said. What am I supposed to do at this point in the conversation….I was starting to feel a collective guilt on behalf of all artists….burdens on the families who support them, and responsible for spending scarce public funds on art that is misplaced, not wanted and up itself. I was actually relieved when the dentist loomed over me and started poking long thin pointed things in my mouth, saying ‘have the antibiotics worked?’
On the same day as the dentist I heard about an interview by Jeremy Paxman with Russell Brand and I have to say ……how good is this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnV0ihSk690
I can’t imagine I will ever take a general election seriously ever again.
Jeremy Paxman and an impassioned Russell Brand talking about our political system I think it might be even better than Greyson Perry.
Apparently according to a PM listener on radio 4 there used to be a piece of graffiti in west London that said ‘don’t vote….it will only encourage them’.
Dare to think of another way and not feel guilty about being an artist.
