THE ARTISTS OF THE TOUCH THIS PRESS
I am hoping to build a MySpace page for each of my four artists over the Easter holidays. This will allow me to take the idea of the press and its publicity even further than a standard exhibition.
THE ARTISTS:
LisseLotte Rothenberg
Joerg Raab
Rhys Wellington and Mallory Powers, as MR.
I will post an example of some of their work, and later on, the designs for their respective catalogues.
KAREN: SADDLES AND PARIS
I finally saw the Karen Kilimnik exhibition last week at the Serpentine Gallery. It was the first time I’d seen her work in real life, and I was suitably impressed and intrigued by it.
At first glance, I was underwhelmed. I saw the glitter and thought, "oh no, not another knowingly kitsch artist". I pushed that thought to the back of my mind, and was able to enjoy the interiors of the rooms and how they had been transformed. It has given me ideas on how I can change the space I might be given for my degree show. I was particularly interested in her final room, the pink room. It was a candy coloured room, who’s walls were filled with white, inlayed columns and cornicing The only painting in the space was of a room that was almost identical to the one in which it appeared. Simple, vaguely funny perhaps, but interesting in terms of the relationship between the painting and the environment in which it finds itself. It made me feel a little awkard, and so I left through the curtains to my right.
It sounds dramatic, and now I look back to last week, I can’t quite remember why I said this, but I distinctly remember saying that the exhibition made me remember why I wanted to be an artist. I was impressed with the way in which the Serpentine had produced a £1 playing card ‘catalogue’, and was amused by the props and techniques she had used that seem so alien to most gallery contexts. The feeling has faded somewhat. I don’t think this is a bad thing. At least I know I can still feel it, no matter how fleetingly. I read the writings of some London-based art critics, and wonder how they can get out of bed in the morning; they seem so jaded. So achingly knowing. Perhaps critics should only have a five year life span..But that would have to make it a clearly defined profession in the first place. I suppose we are all critics. Some of us just get paid to do it.
I feel that was an extremely naff last sentence.
PRINTER
I feel a lot more inspired this week. I realised that I would have to force myself out of my rut by giving part of the responsibility to someone else. I work so much better under pressure, and I also know that if someone is expecting something from me, that I can’t stand to let them down. By involving someone else in an aspect of my work that I need to do anyway, I am moved to do something, and do it quickly.
I have been worrying about printing for weeks now. I have a poor knowledge of Photoshop and InDesign, and have no experience in layout for printing whatsoever. I can bind, and I can make the book without any problem, but it is how to organise content, that worries me. I was walking to Snappy Snaps on Wardour street to develop film, when I saw a print studio. At first glance, it looked like the sort of place that would cater for the novelty-jigsaw-photo crowd. Out of desperation I went in anyway, and found that even some of their most basic designs for books and printing techniques were actually quite suitable. I reserve the right to judge fully until I have a quote and proof, but I have high hopes for this place. I have a meeting on Friday, in which I will bring in any necessary materials needed to illustrate my vague, but very specific requirements.
By involving a printer, I am forced to move on a stage, and start to make the physical book objects.
THE TOUCH THIS PRESS
I suppose, in order to understand what I am working towards with my degree show, I should explain what I am doing. I am wondering whether it is a good idea to publish my intentions online though, which will become clearer when I describe it all.
I have created a printing press, called the Touch This Press. TTP is an entirely fictional press, that is collaborating with fictional artists. I have invented four artists. They are all emerging artists at the beginning of their careers, whom the TTP has approached in order to create a body of work that will appear in a book format. The books produced will then appear in an exhibition within the degree show space. There is to be a unique book produced that reflects the practice of each artist. I have chosen to represent four artists who work in different media in order to diversify the type of books shown. There will be two photographers who act as one unit, an installation artist, and a painter. I will make the work that appears in the catalogue/artists’ book, I will make the books, and I will also invent their histories and criticisms.
I am more interested in this work than anything else I have done for years. I think it was bought about by my interest in books and my intrigue as to their role in a gallery setting. It is a way for me to make work that I want to make, while not developing one path of thought or work. I find myself enjoying making up these people to the point where I am beginning to believe that they really exist. I have inserted them into exhibitions and institutions that exist, as well as making up fake solo shows at galleries that do exist. I sometimes wonder whether they might be offended by this.
I am not sure how realistic viewers will find the ‘exhibition’ and indeed, the artists. Is it an entirely self-indulgent act on my part, or do I genuinely want people to believe in the fiction of my work? It has been suggested that my work could be an act of extreme narcissism, which I think is quite funny as it is partly a desire to distance myself from my work that has bought me to this point!
My practice has change a lot this year. I have allowed myself to admit that I am not a painter, and I never will be. I enjoy it definitely, but it is an endless struggle of the most unproductive kind. I look at the painters in my year, and am thankful that I have left it to them. There are at least three or four people in the studio who posess an intriguing handling of paint, that I could never hope to have.
The direction in which I am travelling is absolutely thrilling. I feel satisfied when I think of it, and relish the fact that it is a relatively unexplored medium within contemporary fine art; the artists’ book. The book. This is an innate source of our learning and knowledge. There are a multitude of questions to be answered in a variety of contexts. Why make an artists’ book? How does an artists’ book operate in a gallery space? How can we define the artists’ book? Is it a book made by artists, or perhaps a book containing art? A paraphrased definition I have found, and that I like, is that the artists’ book is a frame or a container, in which an artist places their work. The work must have a concept that runs throughout, and the artist is responsible for designing the physial form and pagination, as well as the work that is contained within.
I will write again soon. I feel excited about this blogging experiment. It is my first attempt at a blog, and I believe that it will help me articulate my own thoughts to myself, as well as sharing them with others. Whether other people want to hear them is another matter, but I do quite enjoy the narcisstic quality of it all. all
