…time to move on. It's culturally dead here.
Sadly, for many in the UK with disposable income their highest aspiration is to own a 4×4 and an American fridge.
Preparing to sell the house…lots to do…
Pippa, my cousin in Portugal, has just reminded me of the family friendship with the Regos…all in the past now, but her grandmother often had tea with Paula's mother and also visited their summer house at Ericeira near Cascais and Estoril.
Pippa's seen many of Paula Rego's exhibitions in Lisbon and still sees 'Strange dwarfish people in Portugal just like some of her models'.
Pippa's mother, my aunt, and her two sisters knew Paula until she moved to London and the Slade in the 50's and met a fellow student…and then there was the scandal…
Monday…it's a beautiful day. Good and not so good news…had a short email from the gallery (at last) but there's a delay with the new gallery space where my paintings are to be shown…they'll get back to me.
Some idea of a date would have been really helpful to me…manana, manana…
It's Friday!…philosophical Friday. Time to reflect…if I don't exhibit this year, maybe a gallery will consider exhibiting my work next year…or sometime in the future.
Ultimately, as the artist, I'm not in control where or when my work is seen in a gallery and by remembering this fact I am encouraged because above this, I create the work…and the shopkeepers/galleries rely on the artist.
Is the artist the chicken or the egg? I like to think the egg…
This is difficult for me…I may have to walk away from this gallery. When I suggested in my last email to the gallery I put in writing what we had discussed in our phone conversations as a form of contract that we could all happily agree with, after making any changes if need be, there has been no communication from the gallery.
Without some form of contract, I am not prepared to send pictures abroad. I don't wish to push anything with the gallery as I don't want to lose this opportunity of exhibiting.
I just like to think I'll receive a positive response soon…
'Graham's response to landscape is contemplative. Creation becomes a challenge as every mark is considered as the aesthetic process unravels towards sublime resolution. Graham's preoccupations are undoubtedly formal, but his technique relies on more than simply a conscious arrangement of shape and colour. Graham aims to intuitively distil the essence of his visual experience in a much more unlimited way. Landscape provides the ideal motif; unrestricted by figures or buildings, an exploration is permitted which ultimately pervades pure creation.' Sally-Ann Schilling. MA History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Art Historian and former Lecturer Tate Modern, London
