Real art world living, as opposed to do what you want art world living, or art school living…
If I was still in an educational establishment I would be working towards a resolution of some sort for a predetermined assessment point. If I was doing what I want, there would be no assessment, probably no sort of resolution, and no deadlines.
Each of these have their pros and cons. But what I have is real art world living. I don’t necessarily need a total resolution of ideas, but need something presentable for the deadline, the work for which was largely determined a year before the exhibition opens. The work has moved on, ideas have developed more than I anticipated, but I am obliged to meet the deadline with pretty much what was promised. Which of course, I will do…. Pushing at the edges, hinting at what is to come next. But I do have a fear of ACE demanding their money back after I’ve spent it!
What you need for real life art world living is a time machine, so you can go back and book three years in advance the gallery space required when your project is at just the right point. Also, because I am working on a music element that I am contemplating releasing as a cd, that works to a completely different timetable to allow for mastering, reproduction, art work design and printing, marketing and publicity.
I am in a permanent state of confusion about where I am in various processes and time frames.
Then I throw Bo into the mix, and although I know that eventually all will become clear, at the moment, it is all decidedly foggy!
Bo’s work is done using secret recipes of a wide variety of apps and software. This is what makes his work so different to anyone else’s. He revels in either the obscure, old apps on first release iPads, or obscure new apps, released yesterday.
Part of the nine women project involves the drawings, the physical or digital layering and altering of them, and a fair bit of design work for posters, flyers etc. After Bo’s instruction yesterday, and my downloading of about 30 apps all in one go, I suspect once I’ve got to grips with my time machine, I will be spending inordinate amounts of time working with these, to see what I can come up with. Yesterday’s play just piqued my interest, sparked inspiration.
We also discussed my working practices and style. Are some of the curatorial choices made out of habit, or loyalty to a “style” of practice? I repeat, in practice, in design, in craft, and presentation. In my head, that’s kind of the point…also there is an argument to be made for continuity. I do know that Bo asks me stuff either to deliberately provoke, or in his words, piss me off. He does this in part for his own amusement, but I also know he does it because he likes me, and although he might not always “like” the work, he respects it, and where it comes from. This is why I trust and value his opinion.
We have talked of conviction… Some aspects of the work he says I don’t sound confident of, that I’m not selling it. I have yet to work out if this is the case, or whether it’s just him that has that effect on me! Ha! When I’ve made the decisions, I’ll let you know. I actually think it’s ok to not be totally sure, all of the time, but to put it out there anyway, to see what happens.
We spoke of the different influences on my work now. It’s true… I have taken a different road. I don’t know if it is merely a detour, a tangent, or is a permanent re-route….Musicians have a different outlook on things, some things we have in common, some we don’t. But in my experience, the musicians have a better businesslike handle on the marketing and publicity than most visual artists I know. I can take from this and adapt to my own world quite easily I think…. recent discussions suggested the extreme of this could, if not guarded against, tend towards the “Get some bird with her baps out and get the telly in!” (Black Country accent not compulsory), rather than relying on the strength of the work, or the nature of the artist.
Bo said the blog was incoherent… Well of course it is! I am in a constant state of confusion that the inability to time travel causes, and his questions add to that! The blog is where I sort it all out. By writing it, recording my reading of it now, and revisiting occasionally…. I am sporadically coherent enough to be able to knit the fog into a smart little jumper to wear while time travelling.
The biggest thing, I suppose, is whether I feel I am being true to myself.
Well Mr Jones, I may be an occasionally unconfident self-doubting woman, a musical nomad, with funding, a brief, a deadline and loads-of-work-still-left-to-do….
But, yes. I do.
