Feeling excited and nervous about the Norway show. Got a few more things to sort out before I’m away for a couple of weeks, once I’m back I’ve got three weeks before I head out to Brusand’s Nordisk Kunst Plattform. It’s a gallery and project space run by artists Liz Croft and Jan Kjetil Bjørheim, the gallery is the former ticket office and waiting rooms of a decommissioned train station on the Stavanger / Egersund line.
It’s the first solo show I’ve had in years, and my first overseas show ever. It feels like a real landmark (career mark?). When it’s installed I think the work will look great. The main piece features model train sets – it’s happy mix of ‘site relevant’ and studio practice development.
Last week I had a wonderful time in a proper model shop getting all the bits I needed. Being in that shop took me back to my childhood and the local model train shop I used to go to with my father and brother. I was amazed how little models trains have changed – I was never that into the trains, I loved the model houses – the flat-pack printed card ones, that I’m delighted to say haven’t changed at all. Wayne (one of the two brothers who own the shop) was really knowledgeable, helpful and interested in what I was doing. The place smelt of that very particular thin oil that I remember from my brother’s periods of obsessive train maintenance. I’m very excited about going to studio tomorrow and trying it all out!
I’ve also got to work out what I’m going to do about a large (very large) group show that’s in London the week before I go to Norway. I really don’t know what to do – the show has changed so much in the two years that it’s taken to organise. Originally it was a far smaller group of artists with the intention of showing in an vacant shop. We met up a few times and discussed our work and our ideas – it felt very open and interesting, and though we are all quite different I was confident that the show would be cohesive. As it stands now it’s a big show in a small gallery, I don’t know all the other artists though I know some are more design/fashion focussed. Now that I’ve seen the gallery I think the piece of work I made for the original show would look far better in Norway. I haven’t been in a situation like this before and it’s raising all sorts of issues for me – about commitment, professionalism, friendship, ego ….
