PART 2
On the 22nd May I began a 3 month full time work contract which marked the start of my first break from making art for 15 years. This was slightly scary (once you stop how do you start again?) but also quite interesting (would the things which seemed so important in my work in May still seem important in September?) Last week the work contract ended and now I’m taking a couple of weeks to catch up with myself.
So, to address the questions:
The three months without art have seen me go through various phases of thinking about the first question, “Once you stop how do you start again?” Does it really matter if I don’t start making art again? Do I want to start making art again? And then, if, making art is unavoidable, inescapable, what sort of art will it be? One thing I feel for sure is that I seem to have sort of “grown out” of some things. Some aspects of my old practice definitely need to be weeded out. My studio and my old working practices seem cluttered; too many strands; not enough focus. So, how do I start again? With a clear out! I do like a good clear out…
So question 2, “Would the things which seemed so important in my work in May still seem important in September?” Often, for me, decision making is more of a process of elimination than of making positive choices. So, obviously the answer to question 2 will become clearer when I’ve completed the task which I’ve set myself in response to question 1. There is one thing I’m sure of and that is, yes, there will still be a central core of something important left when the clear-out is done. I’m feeling quite excited about getting down to that core.
Been catching up with artist friends this week and beginning to feel like me again.
Sold a drawing in my absence. Amazing : )
It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago. Cat bought me a Stone Plant. Also amazing : )
THOUGHTS
1. The stones haven’t grown, I might need to be a bit more scientific about providing the right conditions for life to start.
2. The job is fine. Today is my day off at the end of week 2. 10 weeks to go. I was very shocked at first to find that nobody talks about, let alone thinks about art at work, at all, ever (it seems). It made me suddenly realise that I do live in a rather privileged art bubble most of the time. The good news is that at the end of my job in August I should be fine to pick up where I left off.
3. Mentoring is on hold because my art work is on hold while I’m working full time. It will be great to meet up with my mentor, maybe in early September, to talk about how things might have changed after a long break from making work and how to move forward.
4. Perhaps I might use some of my hard earned wages for a trip to Leeds to explore the art scene up there for a couple of days and maybe try to meet some Midlands artists. And maybe a trip to Venice…
5. I’m having second thoughts about applying for the Stanley Picker Fellowship as I don’t think I’m working at the right level yet – the job description talks about artists working at national and international levels, so that’s not me. Maybe something to work towards.
6. Today I’ve been preparing for my talk to graduating students at Brighton on Friday. I loved choosing images for my presentation. Such a lot of work I’ve never shown. I must make it a priority to continue re-visiting and re-viewing and pulling out stuff which is still important.
EXPERIMENTS WITH GROWING STONES
Lots of ideas in my head, plus just finished reading my son’s dissertation, Absurd Actions in Serious Scenarios: Francis Alys and the Contemporary Absurd which has been really useful in helping me identify and, to a certain extent understand one of the things which I hold as essential and invaluable in art – the absurd. These things, plus a sense of time running out (I start my 45 hour a week job on Wednesday for 12 weeks) are making me keen to DO some things.
Later…
Experiments with Growing Stones
Phase 1
Working on Schelling’s theory of Naturophilosophie that “all physical objects aspire to become something higher”, I’m going to offer the opportunity for some stones to try to make that leap in status. Using two different growing methods I will attempt to trigger growth from the stones using my experience of growing broad beans to inform the process. I’m going to use stones from a bag of pea-shingle in the hope that the vegetable association will improve the chances of viability.
Method 1: Fill a plant pot with soil, compost or other suitable growing medium. Plant the stone leaving a potential growing point just above the surface of the soil, water well and keep in a warm place until signs of growth are seen.
Method 2: Line a glass jar with water soaked blotting paper or other water retentive material. Position 3 pea-shingle stones around the sides of the jar. Keep in a warm place and ensure blotting paper is kept moist until signs of growth are seen.
WHAT IF…
I always have a sort of back-up plan of ideas in my head – things to pursue if nothing else is happening in my practice, but to be honest, I’m never really satisfied with work made this way, though it’s useful to have that back up plan so that it doesn’t feel as if you’re doing nothing. What is really exciting is when work starts to evolve that you could never have thought of or predicted except as part of doing and reading and thinking – not by planning.
This week I’ve been thinking about questions which start “What if…?” I’ve often wondered whether these questions could be the basis for some work but I’ve never quite known what the questions might be. Now some “What if…?” questions which seem to have some relevance have been becoming apparent to me.
I’ve needed to get some extra paid work and have just been offered a full time non-arts job for 3 months. I’m starting in just over a week and finish on the 13th August. I’m desperate to still be able to maintain some sort of continuity for my work during this period and recognize that I need to have something “started” which I can pick up and put down. Perhaps a “What if…” set of questions will give me that fixed starting point which I’ll need.
So:
Andy Holden in his Laws of Motion in a Cartoon Landscape says “maybe there is no such thing as an inanimate object”; my question then is “What if stones could grow?” (I seem to have a bit of a random stone fixation at the moment but I’m trying to run with it and not feel too ridiculous about it). Also I have read and thought a lot about Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein over the last few years (it featured heavily in my MA work) and wonder “What if Frankenstein’s monster had not looked like a monster, but just a normal looking guy?” This question also seems to fit in quite nicely with the fact that I’m currently reconfiguring work which I made for my MA in order to be able to show it in a different format.
IT’S NOT BEEN A GOOD WEEK FOR ART
It’s not been a good week for art in my house. Other commitments, the need to find more paid work, and a couple of days spent on Blue Monkey Network business, mean that yesterday, Sunday, was the first day in the studio since last weekend. This is very bad and far removed from my resolution to maintain some continuity and spend at least five half days each week in the studio. Another week is about to begin and there’s no reason why this one shouldn’t be better, but already I’ve lost the feeling of continuity which I was building.
My reading and research has been neglected, but in some ways perhaps a pause is not all bad. I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to move on from Schrodinger and Prof Cox and the Enlightenment and think about contemporary science for a bit. Perhaps time to see what sort of reaction will occur if I begin to mix up old and new; what sort of concoction will result from combining some of the information which I’ve been absorbing during the last few weeks with some new ideas from biomedical science and, perhaps some fables from the traditions of mystery, myth and mysticism which historically underpinned theories about the creation of the world and the making of new life through reproduction and birth. Add to this mix a few “what if” questions, and maybe things will start to get interesting.
I didn’t have an image today. So I made one. But it is void.
