Smoke and mirrors. We could have done with a touch more of these last night. Bob and Roberta Smith graced the Salisbury Arts Centre with his latest work, the Salisbury Golem, alongside an exhibition of his text paintings. With the Golem bearing down on us we gathered round the makeshift creature constructed of old bits of wood, eagerly awaiting the performance when the dumb souless being would come to life as it were. What unfolded was a little ceremony whereby the artist (who towered above us himself in a handsome straw Stetson) snuck behind his Golem, and read his challenge to Michael Gove on the destruction of the arts, particularly in relation to the EBACC which had earlier been submitted by letter to the Observer this week. This is just the beginning of a series of workshops which will result in wishes and hopes for Salisbury being offered to the Golem over the coming month. Some of us were a little disappointed that we had not been routed to our chairs as some makeshift mechanism had bought the wooden monster roaring to life, but there was a certain irony in the fact that the artist had merely hidden behind his creation, providing its voice a little like the Wizard of Oz, his charge quite clearly motionless and showing no signs of stomping out of the arts centre, tracking Michael Gove down and bashing him on the head with the garden spade which hung from it’s big wooden arm.
The performance over, Bob and Roberta Smith, ran off together to catch their train but hopefully we’ll get time to meet up with him at the closing event and discuss his ideas further. After a chat with other artists I rushed off to Tesco’s to replenish our stocks of Calpol as holiday plans have been derailed by a nasty bug which is going around all the children. Studio time is suffering as in between nursing patients I am having to entertain the ones who are well and bored stiff by building a dolls house. This is distracting me though from the fact that a piece I have been working on for months is not going to plan.
As many of you will appreciate, working with materials where the outcome is unknown, as opposed to traditional artists materials, is a bit of a gamble. In this case, what actually happened when I coated this particular piece in latex was not what I had in mind at all. What immediately sprung to mind when I opened the studio door the next day can be summed up in this film clip. This is a moment that ever since I saw it years ago, I have banked in my mind and repeat to myself when the moment requires it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvbQ4wJak_c
Thinking about this later when I had calmed down, I pondered for a while on the materials that have resurfaced in my work and become part of the language which I chose to communicate with. I am absolutely drawn to liquids. Liquids that conceal, that coat, that glide over and solidify, liquids that seal a moment and stop it in it’s tracks, plaster that picks up every facet of surface, wax that transforms, with subtle alchemy written text into glorious translucency, gelatine that drips and sets into golden sheets, gloss paint that rolls along a surface and hardens like a mirror and latex which overnight metamorphosises into a perfect skin. I love them all.
I am trying to go with the flow and let this work take me where it wishes to go. I am going to try and refrain from rerunning that clip in my head. Back at the arts centre though, perhaps the child beside me, who may have expected a little more action from the Golem with her politics, may have made good use of that clip in her head. For the rest of us though, well done Bob and Roberta for the chance to see your work first hand in Salisbury and for speaking up for all of us in your inimitable style and shining a light on this critical issue.
