Spoken and written influences of the week…
On ‘This is Magritte’ [1] a radio programme, Gavin Turk suggested that being labelled an ‘artist’ could be restrictive. When discussing how the surrealist artist René Magritte would categorise himself Gavin Turk said ‘I think [at] the moment that Magritte would quite easily confess to be being an artist he would feel something would be lost‘ The choice of the word ‘confess’ was interesting. Could it be the risk of being labelled an artist? The risk of the negative connotations, such as narcissism or sentimentality. It can be difficult to use creative ability to express the individual experience; there is the risk the ‘expressed’ could appear separate to or above the common shared experience. I suppose the thing that can be unique is the creative ability. Narcissistic?
The following is taken from Doris Lessings (1972) preface to her novel The Golden Notebook [2]:
‘At last I understood that the way over, or through this dilemma, the unease at writing about ‘petty personal problems’ was to recognize that nothing is personal, in the sense that it is uniquely one’s own. Writing about oneself, one is writing about others, since your problems, pains, pleasures, emotions – and your extraordinary and remarkable ideas – can’t be yours alone. The way to deal with the problem of ‘subjectivity’, that shocking business of being preoccupied with the tiny individual who is at the same time caught up in such an explosion of terrible and marvellous possibilities, is to see him as a microcosm and in this way to break through the personal, the subjective, making the personal general, as indeed life always does, transforming a private experience – or so you think of it when still a child, ‘I am falling in love’, ‘I am feeling this or that emotion, or thinking that or the other thought’ – into something much larger: growing up is after all only understanding that one’s unique and incredible experience is what everyone shares.’ (LESSING 1972, p. 13)
[1] BBC RADIO 4. 2011. This is not Magritte, [radio programme]. BBC Radio 4. 16 June 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b011vh4t/
[2] LESSING, D. 1972. The Golden Notebook, London: Harper Perennial.
This is brilliant. Its from Alistair Gentry’s blog and is a post about the cuts to organisations such as as Artsway. The quote by Anne Herbert is also brilliant:
“Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.”
http://careersuicideblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/…
It was Holloway Arts Festival (organised by Rowan Arts) last week, I volunteered at the Mayton Street festival (craft workshops, performances etc), the festival made a space for neighbours and the local community to get to know each other and it was fun, admittedly my knitting skills didn’t develop any further. It was great to see the street being reclaimed by the residents and local community. How refreshing it would be if roads were closed and used in this way more often and we could think of them other than as just thoroughfares.
Visited I know a place exhibition at Flowers (Kingsland Road) earlier this week. Definitely worth a visit I was drawn to the title of the exhibition, unusually the exhibited works and title of the exhibition complimented each other. What seemed to bring them together as well as a strong feeling of the familiar or unfamiliar was a sense of wonder. I wanted to climb into one of Jane Edden’s Ideal homes and go to sleep.
http://www.flowersgalleries.com/exhibitions/4206-s…
The Emergent Art Show went well, I think, it all happened so fast! The show was very diverse particularly liked Nathan Eastwood’s Room at the top. The text that accompanied Eastwood’s image within the catalogue spoke of the role of the artist. I took it to mean that while your not being an artist you are still an artist, which I have been thinking about a lot recently; the artists persona or temperament.
At the private view I felt redundant, as if my paintings were embarrassed of my being there. I half expected them to give me a nudge and ask me to leave. Do I mean the artist feels empowered, deity like whilst in the process of creating, but once ‘finished’ impotent? I hope not. At times when I am painting, I feel like a slave, or a puppet to the paint and struggle with the act of painting. Sometimes I forget to struggle and ‘paint’ instead. This honesty brings a confidence to my practice that replaces the question of ‘failure’ or ‘success’.
Met up earlier this week to discuss group exhibition, which will be part of Islington Exhibits in July. Was good to see other peoples work, and feel other peoples enthusiasm. Was reminded (again!) that yes quiet studio time is precious, but too much can be isolating, and its just as important to get out and meet others being creative.
Some of my paintings have been selected as part of a group exhibition, Emergent Art Show by Platform C at The Vyner Street Gallery, London.
Private View: Thursday 2nd June – 18:00 – 21:30
Dates: Thursday 2nd June – Saturday 4th June 2011
Selected artists are: Lyndsey Searle, George Little, Hayley Harrison, Nathan Eastwood, Luna Jung-eun Lee, Elizabeth Dismorr, David Vassie, Debbie Locke, Duncan Mckellar, Rosie Morris, Matthew Gee, Daisy Clarke and Sunyoung Hwang
Private View tomorrow excited and nervous …
