Simulacra And Simulations

The boys’ school has changed to an academy, so I’ve had to buy brand new uniform for both of them.

The kids are back at school, and aside from having caught a hideous cold at Grimsthorpe Festival over the Bank Holiday, I’m now getting on with work again. I applied for a couple of events over the months since my exhibition, neither of which were successful, although they have been successful in a way….. I have some very high profile artists that have agreed to come to Lincoln to collaborate with the LAN for the Digital Arts Festival. One of the organisers was quite excited by my proposal, but then told me that “all the artists have been chosen”.

So whilst instead this will now be very exciting for 2013, I’m left back at square one. The Digital Arts Festival will take place in October, and I will keep away from it, because I don’t need people rubbing my face in the fact that I wasn’t as successful as I’d have hoped.

I’ve been in the studio working on new work for “Fictions” exhibition next week at gallery at St. Martin’s. I’ve had a lot of interest from Lincoln based artists for this group show. But more recently I’ve lost motivation again, and ask myself why I don’t seem to get the support I need to get projects going, and why I seem to end up taking on too much for little reward.

I went to London to visit the Serpentine gallery for a research trip, and to attend a private view that ending up costing me far more than I’d like.

Blog: http://helend-blackbird.blogspot.com/

In other news, in my home town there’s an old Victorian hospital standing empty and abandoned, looking like something out of Edward Scissorhands. The hospital is where I was born and where my eldest son was born before a brand shiny new building was built just outside the town centre.

The old hospital was bequeathed to the town back in the days of philanthropy, but I can guess what will happen to it. Faceless developers will claim ownership of it and turn it into housing.

So I wrote to the local newspaper asking for information, and proposing that it would be a good opportunity to develop a body of artwork for an exhibition in the town. They printed this in the letters section, and I’m getting emails from local artists interested in the idea, offering support. So this will be another project I hope will develop into something.

It’s been a while since I posted in here. I was thinking of leaving this blog and setting up a new one once I have something new, shiny and successful to blog about.

I managed in the end to raise £55 for my solo show. I spent more than that having copies of my comic printed, in the gamble that I might sell them all and make that back. I didn’t sell all of them, I sold a few, but feedback for the exhibition was very positive, and I’m glad to have discovered a few people that are really enthusiastic about my work!!

It’s done wonders for my morale, as has the past few months enjoying my garden.

I didn’t have to pay any submission fees or gallery hire, because it was in a cafe, and Jon Burgerman said he’d exhibited there, so i’m following in some good footsteps.

I will use the rest of the comics to sell in other locations, A-ha fans are most interested in my work, I’ve even got a German fan that wants to commission me to illustrate a book cover for her. She’s only offering a budget of 100EUR, which is less than my going rate, so maybe a tiny doodle would suffice for that budget!!

The best feedback I had was from the guys at Page45 in Nottingham, who said it was funny, which it’s meant to be, and not the mad ramblings of an obsessed fan. The fact is that if I had loads more money, I would’ve made my Jan Svankmayer animation by now, but scribbling on Morten’s face takes up less time and I can fit in in with applying for funding and failing.

I’m in consultation with business people as to how to achieve funding for the LAN. They always suggest asking artists to pay, but I know that artists are all skint, and just want the bank to pay us a wage. So out of sheer frustration I wrote that into my pitch. “What do you need advice on?” How to approach the bank to pay artists an actual wage. Later on, the lady from the business group said my application had been approved. In the mean time, I’ve embarked on some new work for an upcoming LAN exhibition at gallery at St. Martin’s. Entitled “Fictions”, I’ve been pleased to secure some enthusiastic artists, but not doing any work over the summer hols.

I was spiritually devastated by the recent tragedy in Oslo and Utoya. I watched bewildered as friends kept posting more and more news via Facebook and Twitter, later corroborated by news reports. Luckily, no one I know was directly affected, but Magne Furuholmen was due to open a new gallery in Oslo next month, and the body of work he’s created involves used hospital sheets.

He decided not to go ahead with that exhibition out of sensitivity to families of the tragedy, even though I did think it could’ve been his “Guernica”, I think it was a good decision.