Getting paid

http://careersuicideblog.wordpress.com/

Career Suicide by Alistair Gentry, tweeted by @Captainpye

“‘Career Suicide: Ten Years as a Free Range Artist’ was and indeed still is my recent book about the realities of working in the art world for most professional artists, the thousands of unfashionable, underpaid and little-known ones who have to do all manner of unfashionable, underpaid and little-known things to survive.”

I have been struggling with the lack of unity in my work recently – the fact that this blog and the things I believe in for artists, do not fit neatly with the work I make. In titling the show at YSP ‘Make Shift’, I think I have been starting to see links, but I don’t even know if it’s necessary. I just have the feeling that sometimes people are disappointed my work does not match my blog more overtly.

It’s not that I write off all things relational aesthetic either, but that kind of practice does not come naturally to me and I would rather do things well than for the sake of it.

A Japanese friend gave me a good phrase recently: ‘Hippari dako’ meaning a kite pulled by lots of people in different directions all at the same time. I think I am pulling myself in lots of different directions to be honest.

All of the above doubt and worry probably points to the fact that I am tired! I was down in Cambridge last week building a structure on wheels for ‘Small Scale Survival’, Aid & Abet’s first show. It was fun and somewhat of a prototype – two days to build on my own does not a refined sculpture make! My woodworking skills are self-taught and haphazard to say the least but it works. The video is a test run filmed by Rosalie Schweiker, who is running the Emely Cafe there. One of the best parts of being in this exhibition has been the chance to meet her, engage in discussion about the economics of art and ways in which artists can survive. We have made a series of posters as a conversation, and I think they might appear in a book somewhere sometime….

The work pictured is really a reading room (on wheels). Inside there is a copy of ‘The Box Man’ by Kobe Abe, along with a cup holder for coffee and a little red seat. The idea is to get in, wheel around until you find a spot where you feel safe/content/really able to concentrate and then begin reading and drinking. This is all. I’d like to make it again, althought with some more planning so it becomes more of a flat-pack kit and has a little more longevitiy.

http://emely.wikispaces.com/Emely+Cafe+Small+Scale…

http://aidandabet.s700.sureserver.com/projects/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Db%C5%8D_Abe

p.s. As itunes is being it’s usual awful piece of software self, I can’t upload the video at the moment. Pics for now, film to follow….

Really great to see AIR taking part in the protests on Saturday – really loved the long banner! I was disappointed to miss the march, I had though I would be abroad, but even being in the UK, I am just too skint at the moment! The £11 singles I rely on to go to London seem to be getting sparser and the walk on fare is now around £75. It’s just not possible to be spontaneous these days!

BT kindly cut my internet off at home last week and for some reason I have also discovered a whole load of unsent emails that I thought had gone up to 2 weeks ago! MESS. The last week I have mainly been at home or looking after my niece. Time spent playing, reading and spring cleaning. I think I have just about halved the contents of our house. It’s an amazing feeling, but I am not done yet alas…

As I was planning to go to Japan for three weeks, I had packed a crazy amount of work into the fortnight before I was due to leave. Included in this were a number of lectures and talks that I had been asked to do.

During my first residency in 2004, one of the other artists was asked to go and give a talk somewhere in Edinburgh (about the residency). At this time, I felt I had escaped certain death – if they had asked me I would have withered on the spot. I had a really terrible blushing problem in high school – for a while I was nick-named ‘attack of the killer tomatoes’ so that might give you an idea just how red I went. I guess I have slowly overcome it, especially as going to University offered me a break from that identifier! My MA was probably the thing that really sorted me out once and for all with public speaking. But still, like most people (I imagine), I still find it pretty excruciating. I always feel I am giving a lot of myself away and I always finish a talk feeling a bit used somehow. Basically I would do well to man up and start thinking about it a bit more objectively.

This is something I have touched on before, but in reality, talking about your work, blog, practice, stuff etc is part of being an artist these days. It is a way of gaining experience in universities, as a visiting artist usually gives a talk as well as tutorials and it is often built into funded opportunities/exhibitions/residencies.

Increasingly, people ask to record my talks (audio and video), which makes me cringe a bit – or students dump a voice recorder infront of you without asking – and the latest is here: http://vimeo.com/21013498

In a way, it’s good to watch yourself back, but it’s also horrible. What struck me was how much is lost in a recording. I usually keep talks quite informal and rely on audience reaction – this doesn’t really come across somehow. Rich White also did a talk at the same event: http://vimeo.com/21038734. His was half read from an essay and half unplanned. I thought it worked better as a Vimeo clip – more formal,clearer and less emotional perhaps, although I am not sure I am using the correct words here.

So I have been thinking that the way I approach talks maybe needs to be more diverse; to be more planned, timed, and rehearsed if they are going to be used as an online resource. I don’t know, perhaps the answer is not to do them, or to not watch them back! No more for a while though, I need to build my reserves!

So, we had to postpone our trip to Japan (supposed to be yesterday) for obvious reasons. We will hopefully be going in September instead. I am just about getting my head around the fact and coming down from the mass of anticipation and stress that has been the last week. I hadn’t realised how much you gear up for a trip like this, plus I have been completely distracted and glued to the news since the earthquake, to see what was unfolding there. It’s heartbreaking to watch and I hope they can make a swift recovery.

http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now/Make-a-singl…

A bit like when my Swiss trip was cancelled in December, I feel like I have been given the gift of time, especially as I seem to have agreed to a number of extra YSP-curricular projects by accident. Whoops.

I have two unexpected weeks to work so I will be reading the books I saved for holiday – all art related. So this will be like, well, doing actual research rather than stealing 10 mins reading on trains and before bed. I have already completely failed at not being online, but I shall endeavor to chill out my computer usage. While in London I made a quick stop at Muji (I know, pathetic attempt to do something Japanese) and bought notepaper and coloured pens. This is to encourage writing by hand, preferably outside. First book is ‘A Short History of Decay’ by E.M.Cioran. I can see my work becoming even more bleak. Best make sure I waddle and wear funny outfits in my performaces to counteract that!

See also – go for more walks – I think it was Ballard who had twice daily, 40-min constitutionals in Shepperton where he lived.

Also wanted to flag up some interesting reading. My artist’s statement needs a bit of tlc and this article has given me a swift kick up the arse: http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/please_release…

How is your statement looking at the moment?

I AM NOT IN JAPAN.