Went to see my Goldfinger four painting hanging in the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize at their Guild home yesterday before it transfers to the WH Patterson Gallery in Mayfair. £1,000 prize has come in handy as I’ve just acquired a new studio in Deptford. Be even better if the Prize Winner sticker persuades someone to part with the money, and buy it, though it is priced far higher than most of the show……heavens know what people expect for their work once the gallery takes their cut, it’s almost as though the prices are too low, making my price seem so inflated……doesn’t make sense to take the time to execute the work, take it to the handing-in, have it selected and then get less than £500 for it….plenty of hoops to get that far, why expect so little in return?
Had a phone call on Friday late afternoon…thought it might be one of those annoying ones…instead a very polite voice asked if I was attending tonights Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize PV, Ive got a work included…..well, the angle was, I have been shortlisted, one of five for the final prize, of 13 grand…apparently this means I’ll get one thou for being on that shortlist….just moved into a fantastic studio too, so that’ll pay for it for best part of this next half year. Funny how good things are just around the corner for me at the moment.
Well, the Robin Hood Gardens Estate film was very well received. I got praise from the editor too, but that’s maybe because she spilled the beans on who chose to send film of my painting to the cutting room floor. Lots of claps, more than the Anselm Keifer, mind you much of the audience had left by then. Spent time on the nearby, and similarly controversial, Park Hill estate. Took many photographs, so could be the next painting.
Up to Sheffield for the Documentary Film Festival this Thursday. My paintings got me noticed by a young film maker who wanted to include me in his short on the controversial Robin Hood Gardens Estate. Sadly me painting the picture got edited out but my head fills the screen for a minute or so as I talk and look (told I’m a natural)….looked good on the BFI big screen at the Southbank when it got it’s first….they call them gigs, so let’s see.
