Project Me

Depressing but not surprising to read that London’s councils are selling off the family silver (‘Flashmob against sale of Henry Moore’s Old Flo’). I have often feared that Britain is collectively becoming like some senile old relative from a previously powerful industrial dynasty. Where is Ruth Watson when we need her? How about a series of London Council Rescue? She could suggest that rather than selling off their assets they should polish them up, bake cakes and get paying guests to come have a look at their lovely things. The councils (like some of the more sour participants on the show) might even find that they have a restored sense of pride ….

I am still folding away silver blankets – that and other demands outside of the studio mean that I am feeling that the week was far too short and should have been at least three days longer so that I had time to do things.

Received prints of some of the Ljusfältet pictures yesterday – I am surprised at the quality both of the print and the image. The pictures were taken on a small compact digital camera that serves me well as an everyday camera, however after seeing the quality of the prints my friend received (from the same printer) from her digital SLR I realise that I need to start using one all the time. It is time to have my own rather than depending on the good will of friends to lend theirs or take photographs on my behalf. In the meantime I might see what results I get from using my old 35mm SLR and asking for a cd of the pictures when I send the film off for processing. It could be a good short-term solution. Not only that but there is something exciting about receiving an envelope full of images that I have not really seen before … actually there is something exciting about receiving something, anything!, at all in the post.

Material things are important to me, they are at the core of my practice because they are at the core of my life. Often times the materials I choose are relatively humble and simple. I appreciate their honesty. That pair of ancient jade discs that I saw at Frieze Masters and memories of various other museum type objects (both precious and commonplace) keep playing on my mind. Out of the corner of my eye I can see some ring form baking tins – one polished, two not – I think I want to see them displayed as precious and meaningful things.

I am (almost literally) counting down the days to the end of my school term now. No matter what else I have to (or want to) do next year I have to have at least one full day a week in the studio. At least if I plan that then I change my plans!

27 days …



With Ljusfältet part one (as I now think of it) out of the way it is time to work on part two!

presentation of documentation

gallery version of installation

artists conversation

booklet

There are so many things that I would like to do, however I have to bear in mind the budget and, not least, how much time I can commit to it as the work load at school seems to be ever increasing. The four things mentioned above will be more than enough to keep me busy. Once again I am incredibly grateful that Birgitta is able and willing to work with me on this.

Perhaps I am a little too aware of the situation regarding the funding the project received from Stockholm City. As I write this I realise that this might be the first time that I am so personally responsible for producing art that is publicly funded. I want to feel confident that what I present (and how it is presented) puts me in a good position if I apply for support in the future – and also the studio too. It is too late to do anything about the problems out on the field and maybe that is why I am really determined to make the night at the gallery as good as it possibly can be.

Moving to a new city (country) is like starting over again and I guess that it is gong to take me time to build up those all important professional friendships which make so much of an artist’s practice achievable and sustainable. I feel very fortunate to have been asked to do the project in the first place, it is certainly a very positive way to mark my first year of being an artist in Stockholm!

One of the members of the gallery committee here is taking a sabbatical and will stand down in the new year, he suggested that perhaps I and another artist should join in his place. Yesterday I accepted their invitation. I think that it will really good for me to be more involved: not only will my Swedish improve but I will start to learn the kind of Swedish that is spoken by artists(!), I will get to meet more artists, and I will get gallery experience. There are some very interesting konsthalls (non for profit and publicly supported exhibition spaces) in and around Stockholm and the one at wip has great potential. It has been a good few years since I was so involved with Crystal Palace Artists and it feels like the right time to take on something new and exciting.

Do I believe in luck? Recently a friend (here) said how lucky I have been to achieve so much so quickly. Afterwards I thought about it again and wondered if it is luck. It was not luck that brought me to this studio in the first place, it was research and persistence coupled with a willingness to take a risk and holding down at least three (sometimes four) part-time jobs so that I could afford to come here for three months. Over the years between my residency and actually moving here I kept in contact with the artists here (not that that was hard work!) and made the effort to come to openings whenever I visited (again it is not exactly work or a hardship but it is a commitment and an interest). More recently I took the studio for six months not knowing if I would be able to stay longer and agreed to participate in a project that was anything but secure. Is it luck that I have a contract to share this studio, luck that the project is going ahead? Luck or just how life works? My ‘work’ as an artist is hard to define (not what I produce, I mean all the things that I do that sustain my practice), many of these things are ‘soft’ and informal and sometimes I get something back (rarely money!) but it is all work. And I am very glad to be able to think of myself as a working artist!



One corner of the studio is covered with crumbled silver blankets that I brought back from the field yesterday.

When seen at night the piece did what I hoped it would do – created something that glittered and sparked. I am really pleased with how it looked. People were intrigued and interested in it which is always a good sign! I also had some good conversations (in my Swedish!) with people who passed by during the day while I was setting up. One man really liked it and suggested that each blanket could represent a different person and how all the different ‘people’ needed to work together – ‘like in life’ (that’s what I understood that he meant). He also made the point that because it was silver and without its own colour it reflected back the colour of the person who looked at it, he really thought that that was really good. I would guess that he was from India or Pakistan and his comment made me wonder about ideas of art and inclusivity … or art and exclusivity …

I am really pleased with the actual material – the silver blankets. They work visually and conceptually for this piece. More than just being visually interesting the foil blankets, which are design to protect and identify someone (something) vulnerable, gave the piece a poignancy and specificity to its location and the other events on the field that evening.

If I had had time to try different options for the lights I would have positioned them differently so that people could get a good effect without having to walk around the work. However it was not really an option to move them once it was dark!

So artistically the piece was a success, however there were technical and administrative problems that have given me a lot to think about in terms of future projects.

I did not understand everything behind the scenes and, perhaps naively, trusted everyone’s calm confidence. I had explained my lighting requirements to the man who was supplying the lighting for my installation as well as the marque and stage where people would be talking. He in turn had spoken with the event organisers and confirmed that they had sufficient generators. It turned out that on the evening one generator was faulty and another produced only enough power for one of my floodlights. This meant that while people were on the stage speaking my installation was not fully illuminated. There was nothing that could be done about it and there was no point in making a big fuss. Of course I was disappointed but I also had to be realistic about the practicalities of doing something with no possibility of rehearsal and which depended on the goodwill of a lot of hard working volunteers whose priority is their campaign to save the field from re-development (which was the focus of the presentations on stage) rather than exhibiting artworks.

Another difficulty was the lack of administrative support from the studio and I am really grateful that Birgitta took on so much in addition to organising her own event with children from local schools. The producer who was invited to take over this and two other projects at Wip:konsthall felt unable to take the work on at such a late stage which left us without anyone to organise things from the artistic side. Birgitta and I sent out press releases and promotional material but it needed a professionals focus and time.

There is a second part to the piece which is a presentation at Wip:konsthall in early January. I am going to start working towards that now so that I have the best chance of it being successful!

For the future:

Understand the full technical requirements of an artwork and it’s presentation, and double check that everything is suitable, working and compatible.

Start to build up my own contact and mailing lists.

Make time to rehearse as much as possible – use models?

Assistance – include in the budget!

Research in to the historical aspects of All Saints Eve and Hallowe’en have been very interesting – things for another blog ….



Frieze ii (not strictly Frieze but also in London)

After a day at Frieze I was almost pleased that Francois was not able to leave me his VIP pass – that way I could not feel obliged to go back, though another stroll around Masters might have been fun. Friday’s treat was seeing the amazing collections of artists’ jewellery on several stands at the PAD Fair in Berkley Square. A few years ago I saw jewellery by Anish Kapoor and Zaha Hadid at an auction preview and remember thinking that it was an interesting idea then. In terms of an edition or multiple it is quite appealing. Maybe that is because materials and objects are often my starting points, and perhaps jewellery offers the same possibilities …

It is funny, sometimes, where and how one arrives at things. I went to London expecting to be excited and inspired by one fair when actually it was things at two others that made more of an impact on me. An even more brilliant discovery came from a very familiar place – Kim’s studio where I stay (and where I spent two weeks before moving away last year). On Friday evening I fancied looking through a good book while lying in bed and my gaze fell upon Phiadon’s Roni Horn publication. As I was flipping through it I saw a picture of her Goldfield piece – which caught my attention not only because it is beautiful but it also immediately reminded me of my field project. Reading about it I discovered that the piece lead to a deep friendship between Horn and a favourite artist of mine Felix Gonzalez-Torres. The friendship led both artists to dedicate works to each other and I can only imagine how interesting their conversations and correspondence must have been. Seeing that wonderful image of a sheet gold leaf for the first time it felt as though that was the reason that I was in London. I do not know so much about Roni Horn however I now want to start seeing and reading more.

Saturday was spent catching up with various good friends some of whom I have not seen for a few years. It was really interesting to discuss Frieze with them. Perhaps it is a sign that we are all getting older but there was a general feeling that it was not as interesting to us as it was when it first started. Or perhaps it is a sign of the times that it felt more obviously commercial than it has done in the past. I can be very naïve sometimes and it was not until someone pointed out the practical realities of it being a “fair” rather than an “expo” that a few more dots were joined up for me! I had been wondering why some good galleries had rather odd looking stands, it was explained to me that this is because the VIP and Collectors preview days had actually been very successful and many pieces had been sold. Still I wondered why it was so important to have things packed up and shipped out immediately, my friend continued to explain that I was thinking about things the wrong way around. It is not that the buyer wanted the piece immediately, it is that the gallery can not sell the same piece twice so it is in their interest to take away what is sold and show something which is for sale. The amount of storage required for this also explains why Frieze seems to be the opposite to the Tardis – ariel photographs show a tent which looks far larger than it feels when you are in it.

My final (essential) task of the trip was to buy silver glitter! I am pleased to say I did and it is now sitting here in the studio waiting for me to have time to get on with what might be a very twinkly job – maybe it is good to wait until nearer Christmas when I will not be the only person walking around town sparkling! I highly recommend Flint’s Theatrical and Marine Chandlers (such a wonderful name), not only did they have exactly what I wanted but they offered to pack it in four individual bags so that I could pack it more easily. I am a little disappointed that I was not stopped at customs … I wanted to know what it looked like on their x-ray machine

www.flints.co.uk



Frieze i

Once again I was fortunate to be a VIP’s “plus one” for my Frieze experience. Having not always had this privilege I really do appreciate the difference. After a plentiful breakfast at Tate Britain with time to see the Turner Prize show (I liked Elizabeth Price‘s piece) and hear about the Tate’s Outset acquisitions we set off on the South London Gallery jamboree. Whilst looking at Rashid Johnson‘s show I was introduced to a wonderful American couple of collectors who really do seem to travel the world in pursuit of exciting new contemporary art. Their passion was amazing, and I was very pleased to discover that some of my fears about “collectors” were dispelled by this charming pair. The bus route back passed truly improverished parts of south London and I hope that some of the VIPs looked up from their iphones and saw another side of the city.

The two years since my last visit to Frieze collapsed as soon as I entered that massive tent – the sights and sounds were immediately familiar. Having lived in Stockholm for a year the buzziness (and busyness and business) of Frieze was even more pronounced. I quickly found two things that interested me; one a Tom Burr piece in the backroom of the Rech Gallery, and Ian Kiaer’s piece* at Alison Jacques. It is only now that it occurs to me that maybe the people on both stands had time to talk because it was during the VIP’s daily ‘preview’ hour and the fair was not yet so busy. It makes such a difference to hear about the artist and their work from people who know them. Perhaps I am too aware of being an artist rather than a collector when I visit fairs – from my own limited time in retail and sales I know the frustration of being engaged with an interesting but non-buying person and seeing potential buyers move on.

I intended to spend the whole day there however three hours was enough. It could have been the brilliant white light, the artificial environment in that huge tent, the constant hum of the generators, my age or just the sheer volume of artwork but I was more than ready to head across the park to see Frieze Masters.

Frieze Masters was a completely different experience, one that I found very enjoyable. I immediately warmed to the calm grey tones of the carpet and walls, the wide aisles and the modest number of visitors. The style of the booths and the type of work was (understandably) completely different. The Galerie Daniel Blau exhibition of Warhol drawings was amazing and it was great to be able to see such fine work so close up. I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed looking at the ancient Chinese and African art. Again it was amazing to be so close to such beautiful things, amazing also that they were not in glass cases! The pair of Chinese jade discs from 3000 -2000 BC at Ben Janssens‘ fascinated me, these must be the oldest things that I have been close to (excluding the earth itself and other such ‘ancient’ things). It was while standing awestruck in front of these that I started to think about the possibility of using similar stands for presenting some of the objects from my ‘collections’.

A reception at the Whitechapel Gallery was my last VIP event that day. As soon as we arrived I met an old college friend who now has a very serious position in the art world (so does her partner), we do not really keep in touch but always get along very well when we meet up.

The day was (visually) exhausting and it was a good decision to stop while I was enjoying myself rather than continue to another couple of events later in the evening.

The art world is a weird and wonderful place – I feels like home …

*Yes, he is using an emergency blanket too! I loved the way it rippled and sparkled.