It’s not that I don’t have a lot on – I do – it’s that somehow for some reason things don’t feel so burdensome. It crosses my mind momentarily that perhaps they should!
It was good fun to go around the commercial Market Art Fair. It was a beautiful spring day, work were paying my travel expenses, my work-sponsored membership of the International Council of Museums took care of the entrance fee, and I am able to claim back the time from my working week … with all of that in place how could the trip not be (a) jolly. It was also very nice to run in to two Supermarket volunteers working at Market (I wonder if they got paid there). And a nice young curator who I met when she was working at a gallery in Stockholm was there with a gallery from Oslo – I hadn’t ever thought about how galleries might temporarily employ ’local’ assistants rather than having to cover the costs of bringing their staff with them.
So I was looking at things with at least two hats on: as an arts professional looking for trends and potential purchases for the region’s collection, and as an artist seeing what my commercial colleagues are up to. There was not a lot that jumped out as immediately appropriate for the kinds of environments where the region has art – if you exclude their own offices. Much of the figurative imagery included bodies that could too easily be too challenging encountered in a hospital waiting room, and the more abstract pieces tended towards to either dirty muddy tones or a palette reminiscent of the 70s. There were of course some spectacular works that would be great in gleaming modern corporate headquarters.
The artist me felt that I could produce equivalent work if I was a full-time studio artist … but I’m not … so I don’t … and that was a bit tender, but no more than a bit. There’s no point in getting too caught up in wishing that I had had other opportunities or that I had had a different attitude when I was younger.
After a good few hours there and listening to two panel discussions – one interesting one about collecting, and one rather less focussed one about the up surge of textile in contemporary practice, I really could not tell if the majority of the panel were struggling with English or just struggling – and treating myself to good lunch, I made my way to the north of the city to go an event at an artist-run studios and gallery. On my way it struck me that there are broadly two types of artists: project based artists, and product based artists – the two Stockholm fairs, Supermarket and Market reflect the distinct though not necessarily exclusive ways of being. Perhaps I have not been particularly successful at either because I have never really committed to either.
I wonder if my feelings about the work at Market (held at Liljevalchs) might be affected by having shown in the same rooms in Spring Exhibition. I will admit to being particularly interested to see what was hanging on ‘my wall’ …