The Hunters & Collectors ‘Meet the Artists’ event last night was really good. After a welcome and introduction by Linda Duffy (Co-curator) each of us spoke about our work in response to Linda’s question about source materials and process.
The discuss was very informal and relaxed with the audience and other artists making contributions and comments as we talked about the work.
It was great to have this opportunity. I found it fascinating to hear about other artist’s intentions and motivations. The areas of overlap and intersection between very different approaches was very interesting, perhaps it was a reflection of skillful curating that quite divergent artists were able to spark off each other. The discussion felt really vibrant and vital, as well as accessible and enjoyable!
I’m going to suggest this kind of event for future group shows I’m in. How lucky am I? – to spend an evening talking about my work with other artists and curators, having a glass of wine, and calling it work!
BED – the live work I’m making for the Day of Intimacy (Signals 5’s day of live and performance art) – will be my first live piece in about five years.
The task I’ve set myself is to chalk out an area the same size (and compass orientation) as my own bed. I’m starting at noon and really don’t know how long it will take – I’m imaging that I’ll finish the drawing in time to see some of the evening performances.
My intention was always to leave the drawing to weather. I imagine it being worn away by people walking over it as well as by rain, wind, sun. In the last few days I’ve become interested in how the piece lasts longer than the ‘one day’ of it’s making. The imagined erasure of the drawing has acquired weight.
Beds are already such loaded objects – I can’t help but think of their cultural associations with birth, death and marriage. Here I am planning to represent what is usually a private place very publicly.
BED starts 12.00 noon, Saturday 1 September. Antenna Studios, Haynes Lane, London SE19
www.myspace.com/signalsinlondon
I’ve just uploaded the digital pictures I took of my work in the show and they are really bad! Why can’t I take good pictures anymore? I used to do okay, so what’s happened? Perhaps it’s the camera, perhaps I spent more time looking through the view finder of my old SLR than I do now with a small digital.
I think I’m going to take some old fashioned slides and see if I like those more. I understand how an SLR and film work – I haven’t a clue about digital stuff – does it make a differnece if I understand it or not?
The most interesting picture I’ve got from Sunday was some grafitti on a locked door in the car park. The names in a heart have been scrubbed out, below the heart it says ‘GAY BOIZ’. I noticed it when I was about to drive home to John. I got back out of the car and photographed it. Were the ‘gay boiz’ names erased fom the heart? Did some ‘gay boiz’ erase other names and claim the heart for themselves? Is ‘gay boiz’ a declaration or an insult?
I spent yesterday hanging two pieces of work for Hunters & Collectors at The Gallery at Willesden Green. It’s been a long time since I put work into a gallery – my last show was in a garden shed.
Five artists were there, Linda and Emma brought a picnic along, and there was a good relaxed atmosphere. The show looks really good. It’s good to see my work in a new context. I’d had the handkercheif piece up at home and I’m surprised at how much more professional it looks now that it’s in a gallery (my home white walls don’t make a white cube).
The show opens on Thursday and I’m getting a bit nervous about it. Over the last few years I haven’t made it to many openings myself and now I’m worried that the people I’ve invited won’t come to mine! It’s so easy to lose contact with people I’ve met through other shows or at other studios. On the other hand – there’s all those new people to meet ….
Hunters & Collectors can also be seen at; www.magpiecurators.org.uk
- cover one studio wall with plasteboard
- finish 3 pieces of work
- get some new slides
I'm sitting here thinking through the things I need to do and wondering why I don't just do them. Perhaps it's the fear of living my life by a global sports conglomerate's strap line. Perhaps it's lack of confidence.
Neither of these excuses have any real currency. Perhaps after all this time I'm actually afraid of getting what I want! I'm commitment-phobic! Keeping things at arms length means that they remain fantasties, or even 'fantastic', and making them real might spoil that.
- What is success?
- What am I doing to achieve it?
- What am I waiting for?
