Leaving a piece of work I made for the recent ‘Discernible’ show in the hands of the curators was, as I said, a new and interesting experience. Allowing ‘Other’ (see image) to stand alone, without any explanation about the narrative behind the work, was unusual for me. It feels ironic, retrospectively, that I asked for it be suspended, hanging in the air – just as I’d left the whole concept that lay behind it; hanging, unsaid & unspoken.
I also let go of ‘It’s The Little Things’ when it was installed in the Kaleidoscope gallery in Sevenoaks last Friday, on the third leg of the This ‘Me’ of Mine touring exhibition.
In Deptford and in Folkestone, I’ve been there to install my work for the exhibition. I didn’t even question whether I should be there; it felt like a given. This time round, however, I made a decision – to be practical about the implications of being at every installation set-up and to try and let go of controlling the installation of my work. It wasn’t easy, but I decided to hand it over to the capable hands of the curator, Jane Boyer – alongside a photograph for guidance of where the various bits and pieces should go.
‘It’s The Little Things’ is composed of a number of small things rescued from my Nana’s home, placed onto shelves and a mirror frame set on a plinth. The objects are pretty precariously balanced and it takes a while to set them up and get the things looking the way I want them to. I’ve managed to spend a good hour or so building and then just generally tinkering with the various objects during installation in the last two venues – making sure they’re ‘just so.’
Apart from a couple of text queries from Jane and then, very thoughtfully, a photo of the installation completed by her, I haven’t seen my work in its finished state. I’ve missed being involved in installing it this time round, if truth be told. The process of placing the individual objects is the part that I love – it’s what feels crucial to me in terms of how the final piece of art work is realised. I enjoy it probably more than anything else I do in my creative practise.
But if one of the driving forces behind my work is to continue to be about letting go, then handing over the responsibility for installing it is a necessary part of that. Someone once told me that he felt I lost something quite crucial in my work when I started ‘sticking things.’ It’s an observation that has stayed with me. But in practical terms, I think I may need to reconsider how I present the assemblage pieces I create in the future. If they’re not fixed in place, they may be fine as they are in the studio but not so fine if they need to be transported and installed by someone else. It’s all been a bit of a learning curve.
I hadn’t intended to go to the Kaleidoscope gallery in advance of tomorrow evening’s launch night, but as the time approaches, I’ve realised there’s a part of me that’s keen to be there to make sure the work is exactly how I’d like it to be. This is not a reflection on the curator – but as I said, the placing of the objects is everything to me. If I don’t do it, am I really the artist?
Letting go, it seems, has its limits!
