Friday’s PV was very successful, with a fantastic turnout. A human frailty, it is easy to confuse all the gushing praise with critical evaluation. Bearing that in mind, a couple of people whose professional opinion I particularly value and respect gave wonderful feedback. That means a great deal.
I had been concerned that my aim of showing a period of transition would manifest itself as a collection of disparate works. In the event I needn’t have worried because no-one saw it that way. I also aimed to represent recent experiments with drawing. One work, possibly two, looked out of place in the latter context, OK in the first. The lesson here is that I could have succeeded in both objectives if I had left these two pieces out, or alternatively just settled on one objective. Perhaps I’m being unduly hard on myself because this escaped everyone, apart from one of the people whose opinion I value who had spotted the anomaly. One to remember for the future.
My wife overheard a slight negative from someone who said that she “…. loved all of it, apart from the one where (I) had just bought some little toys and hung them on a bit of string.” In fact the ‘little toys’ are miniature facsimiles of some of my late father’s tools. I had made these by hand, which was a crucial element behind the concept. The lady in question had completely missed the point, but unwittingly made a great compliment. More than one person had said that that piece is the “star of the show” but it is interesting to note that different people consider different works their personal favourite.
A group from the University is coming this afternoon. Thankfully I only need to be on hand if required, no talk is scheduled.
