There was a girl sitting opposite me on the bus the other day. She had lots of piercings and those scary ear rings that stretch the lobe so much that they flap about when she moved. She had an oversized portfolio – just to make it very clear that she was an art student and meant business.
She eyed my very large Tesco fairtrade canvas shopping bag and probably sniggered, thinking how ‘ordinary’ I was.
What she couldn’t possible have guessed though – was what was in that bag.
For the last three days, I’ve been carrying boxes of paper planes, houses and ships to work with me, so that I can store them safely, before building a very large installation from them. there are 15 boxes in all and rather than worry about getting them all in one go, I find it easier to carry them – all in my trusty shopping bag.
I wasn’t going to exhibit again this year, but the space was available and it just seemed a waste not to use it.
I don’t normally like showing work twice in the same city, but I I’ve never shown my 3 installations all in one go, so I’m curious to find out how this will work – if at all! I’ve had so little time to make any new work, so the least I can do is keep adding to this giant installation. Whether it works or not -I’ll find out next Tuesday.
Of course it hasn’t really been 2 months since I’ve done anything ( entry of last blog) I’ve just been too busy with other stuff , such as : www.a-n.co.uk/p/983947/ to write anything on this page.
It amuses me how many artists will turn up their noses at certain exhibition spaces. Obviously, we would all like a nice big white space, but its not often they come up really do they? I’m thinking about this at the moment, because I’m also ‘working’ for the Liverpool Independents Biennial and have recently offered 3 fairly good spaces out to artists. One is in a listed building and would cost the artist £350 per week in rates and utility bills ( at business rates) so I can understand the reticence in taking that up. The second is an empty shop unit, which has a good size open front window and has a lot of passing trade. This is free to artists.
The third is a very large empty shop unit, a bit run down, but again with good passing trade. This is £150 a month.
I’ve had a few enquiries, but there’s always some excuse – oh I would have to invigilate? I can’t screw anything into that wall? I would have to paint it first? Why isn’t it free?
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help feeling that some artists are a little naïve when it comes to exhibiting work.
Using a very good lesson in how not to do things, I’ve spent the morning coating some of my paper objects in resin in the hope that it will strengthen them.
I hadn’t used the resin since last summer and the lid had sealed tightly shut. Absolutely nothing would budge it, so I had to resort to gauging a hole in the lid using a screwdriver. I then had to wait half an hour for the liquid to drip out… painfully slowly. Of course, I didn’t use gloves, so spent a further half hour trying to clean my hands. Note to self – if all else fails, use selotape!
I’m doing such a botched job because I can’t be bothered working. I want to spend my days off from work doing what normal people do, but I can’t.
I now have 260 paper planes for the Albert Dock exhibition ( 30 completed this morning, before I had even got dressed!) …… and 20 paper cones ( covered in resin!) ready for Bridewell . Three and a half weeks to go……..
It’s kind of funny when you think you have moved on from a body of work, only to find it in the ‘limelight’ a couple of years later.
For the 2010 Independents Biennial, I was using plastics and other recycled materials in my work. I did enjoy using the medium, but found it impractical as certain carrier bags for example, break down – which they should (!) …but for longevity…well, it speaks for itself. Sooo…I moved on and started working with paper.
While the work was on show though 2 years ago, I uploaded a few images to Saatchi online. There’s no selection process for this – anyone can do it. I got bored with it though and didn’t upload any more as I was a bit disappointed with the quality of work that was being published .
Anyway….two years later and this suddenly appeared: http://www.saatchionline.com/art-collection/Installation/100-Curators-Collection/348727/22255/view
I don’t think it means anything, but it was nice to see old work being viewed again.
In the meantime….. I will have to move away from the PC so that I can use my only day off to work on the two installations planned for #Indies2012 !!
If anyone is in Leeds – please try to get to see BOUND at Leeds Library!
I think getting away from my work for a few days ( well, being forced to get away from work so I can earn some money!) has helped me with a new plan of action for the Bridewell exhibition.
I had a complete mental block and was getting stuck and almost panicky with the obsession to use objects that I had put aside a while ago, but couldn’t think how to put them together. I wanted to use item A and stick it to Item B so that it looked really ‘interesting’. Of course it wouldn’t have done – it would have looked like a desperate attempt to use up items that had been lying around.
So…Plan B is in action with a call out on Facebook for a new object to be used …and the hope that I can pull it all together within 6 weeks!
