The New Lights Exhibition Private View went very well, very busy. The Mercer Gallery is a beautiful building, and Harrogate very pretty. The standard of the works was really impressive. There was a huge range of painting styles and subject matter all of which worked well together. Basically the whole exhibition was really well organised and curated. Lots of exhibiting artists attended and it was great to meet them. Exhibiting artists were given badges so that made the whole thing a lot easier. I had some good feedback about my work, which is always good. Admittedly having my photo taken was a little frightening; I much prefer to be the other end of the camera!
Nat Quinn was awarded the Valeria Sykes Prize, really beautiful paintings with intricate surfaces.
I spent yesterday going through a backlog of emails and opportunity listings. Today I am going to my studio to start a new painting. I am wearing fresh clean painting clothes and Ipod is charged and ready (a day of P J Harvey and Bon Iver I think).
This evening I am meeting with the workshop leader of the Urban Craft Club and another volunteer to discuss new project – pleased to be part of it again. Also this week, attending what looks to be an interesting talk organised by Artquest and Film London at the Whitechapel Gallery – ‘At its core, this discussion asks the question: are you always an artist’. Additionally I have to go and see Adrian Ghenie’s new work at the Haunch of Venison and try to resist the desire to steal one.
I am going now and I am going to paint.
Went to see The Metamorphosis a dance-theatre adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novella at the Royal Opera House. I haven’t read it so I can’t compare but was really impressed. The story is of a man who wakes to find he has turned into an insect. It was frustrating to see the breakdown of communication when a new language was introduced, that of the insect. That of assumed difference. The despair and isolation of the transformation from man to insect was mirrored through the music and dance, which was both beautiful and disconcerting.
Was particularly struck by the dream scene where the sister and brother (the man going through metamorphosis) dance in separate rooms. Different moves same dance. There seemed to be a duality, a coming of age. Through the girls ballet there was a representation of the struggle of puberty. Through the man’s contemporary dance there was a representation of his realisation of the situation, a surrendering. The man finally accepts the non-acceptance surrounding him and leaves.
This text is by Aldous Huxley (1954) from his essay The doors of perception [1] which I am forever returning to:
We live together, we act on, and react to, one another; but always and in all circumstances we are by ourselves. The martyrs go hand in hand into the arena; they are crucified alone. Embraced, the lovers desperately try to fuse their insulated ecstasies into a single self-transcendence; in vain. By its very nature every embodied spirit is doomed to suffer and enjoy in solitude. Sensations, feelings, insights, fancies – all these are private and, except through symbols and at second hand, incommunicable. We can pool information about experiences, but never the experiences themselves. From family to nation, every human group is a society of island universes. (HUXLEY 1994, p.3)
[1] HUXLEY, A. 1994. The doors of Perception, London: Flamingo.
The paintings were collected today by Aardvark, I rock and so do lots of other helpful people!
It was a late one in my studio and I had to wear my favourite socks, but all is well. Impressed with my 3 day turn around and huge financial savings.
Admittedly asking for help isn’t one of my strong points, but I sense this is the case for a lot of artists.
Some parts of the art world treat the artist like the underdog. For that to change artists have to realise that we sometimes reinforce this by not asking.
This time I did ask, and everybody was really helpful.
Two of my paintings have been shortlisted for the Valeria Sykes Prize and will be in the New lights Exhibition in the Mercer Gallery in Harrogate!
Just need to get them from London to Harrogate … Does anyone know of any other transporting companies like Aardvark Art Services, I have contacted them, fingers crossed, think it might be a bit short notice though.
Quotations for same day courier service around £260. Giggle.
Will get some next day courier service prices tomorrow.
Am I missing something here, what does everyone else do?!
They are sensible and have a driving license.
There is always the train option (AKA hell: Me wrestling two big paintings on a packed train).
Breathe Hayley
