So it’s deadline day. Things have been running quite smoothly so far (although I don’t think having to move house this week has helped with my already high stress levels) and we have 3 hours left. I have my work up, although the lighting isn’t how I would have liked it, and luckily, through pulling all- nighters in the library, I have my written work completed too.
Unfortunately, three of us are exhibiting in one small room, and we’re currently fighting for every bit of space. I’m taking a bit of a risk with my statement, choosing only to show a quote and a link to this blog rather than a descriptive text as I have shown in the past. This is what I’m going for:
“It is often said that the statements of artists are not to be read in the same way as those of philosophers. The published writings and the statements of artists are often found to be elliptical, contradictory, evasive and rhetorical….A mixture of fantasy and conjecture, anecdote and metaphor are the likely companions of a working process which is as much concerned with concrete things as it is with words. The work itself-seeming all too often in danger of disappearing under a superfluity of words- is where artist and audience meet. This is where discussion begins.”
Adrian Searle (1993) Talking Art 1, ICA: London
www.a-n.co.uk/p/564347/
I hung all my work today, and with a week left before assessment. Bizarrely, this is always my most relaxed time…while everyone around me is stressed (they must hate me!) I have time to get all those annoying bits and pieces done (don’t we all hate those!)
Yesterday I had my most productive day at uni so far this semester…my tutorial went well, and we covered the points I had been struggling with, [how much to display and which lighting would be suitable] Tereza is lovely, and as she graduated from our course she had some great advice on getting through this final year. It was also reassuring to hear that at this stage she had no idea what she was going to present in the degree show.
I managed to hang everything I had done so far on this new piece and had a “breakthrough” with acetate… who would have thought! I can’t wait to experiment more tomorrow…
A busy week ahead of me:
I’m going to read “Time” by Eva Hoffman, I haven’t read as much this semester as everything I have been looking at is dissertation orientated. I’ve also ordered the new blackdog “Art and Text” book which should arrive today or tomorrow. This will help me back up the work I have started over the last two weeks as it is new territory for me.
I need to prepare my drawings for laser cutting, luckily I have friends to help with that as I am somewhat of a computer-dunce.
I will be attending the “lifeworkart” conference on Baltic tomorrow.
I have a tutorial with Thereza Buskova on Wednesday (my last visiting artist tutorial didn’t go very well, so I hope this has a more positive outcome!)
And of course….I must do some art work.
I just caught up on “School of Saatchi,” and while I thought it to be slightly out of date (the question “Is it art?” is not a new one) and ridiculous in parts, (the anonymous phone calls from Saatchi, for example) it did allow me to consider a few things about my own stance on art….
Personally, I would never enter such a competition as I don’t chase fame or money. It did make me wonder about my reasons for needing to create art, I think a lot of the time it is just a burning interest, or an aspect of my personality that needs exploring in a physical way.
I think that the quote “the charmed inner circle of contemporary art” was an awful statement. In Newcastle, and probably in many cities, the most interesting collectives and spaces are sprawled out and intertwined, low budget and makeshift. I’d much rather go to a Hangar 51 show than one at the Baltic. I think I prefer the immediate and the unseen, not something that I have seen in a book or online countless times (possibly a reason why I am making decisions about whether to photograph my current work or not).
Is it important to look at others work? This was asked to one girl who claimed that it was unnecessary, yet I love it when you’ve been working on something and come across someone who you have never met or spoken to, and who is exploring the same ideas or methods.
I could sound as ridiculous as I said the show, but I guess we all have our opinions. I found it interesting to see Suki Chan on there, as I saw her work in Manchester last December, she must desire to be in the so-called “charmed inner circle”.
