How and when to store works? The tie drapes … as yet untitled works in a series … are hanging on the wall in the studio. Very practical questions about them are hanging in the air … hanging around in my head: do I make cartons/boxes for them and pack them away until I have somewhere to show them, and if so how best to pack them … rolled, folded, flat; should I spend time ’perfecting’ the peg on which they hang … do I spend time looking for exhibition opportunities for them – in group shows, open call exhibitions, or do I look for solo exhibition opportunities where they would be one of several works; do I leave one example hanging in the studio?
If I am honest with myself I know the answers to most of these questions … it’s generally ’yes’. I should make a good way of storing them, I should make a good peg (in multiple), I should re-photograph them on the good peg, I should look to get them in to group and thematic shows, and I should have one hanging in the studio. All of this requires my investment … of time and a little money. If I continue to be honest with myself I have to admit that while I like the idea of investing in them my mind is already racing ahead with the next idea … and the next idea … and the next.
It would be great to make a wooden box for each drape – in which they could hang in the same way they do when installed on the wall. This would be quite a project in itself but perhaps one worth investing in. Perhaps this is an aspect of being an artist that I have not yet tackled … embraced … accepted … that in addition to conceiving of the work and producing it I should be thinking about what happens next. I guess I have a ’duty of care’.
While I am on the honesty track … can I honestly say that I have produced the work? By which I mean is The Work actually made? I have certainly made a sketch … but the peg is not what it should be, and ties in several of the colour ways retain their labels – something that I learnt to remove as I paid attention to how they both added bulk and are even visible from certain angles.
The work is not yet refined, not yet as good as it can be … not yet finished! And while it is exciting that the work remains live, it also contributes to a certain anxiety and awkwardness. Perhaps rather than rushing on a new idea I should really … REALLY … finish with this one. I should give it the focus, time, and attention that is deserves … that is needs if it is to be taken seriously.
So about this peg …
