The Cultural Tourist

I have just finished being involved in Open Studios in my ASC Studio complex in Kingston for the last 2 weekends. It was a busy time. Well over 250 people wandered into my little studio to view my work and have a chat. All sorts of people came and visited ranging from other artists, the occasional art enthusiast, couples looking to buy for their home and families curious to know what we are up to as well as get their kids (and dogs) out and about.

I spend a lot of time talking, explaining what I do and why I do it. I generally get a positive response. We do try and sell during our open studios but painters fare less well than print makers and ceramicists as our prices are naturally more expensive by nature of what we produce.

With this in mind, I had deliberately created some smaller collage works on paper, wanting to have some art more accessible to the general public who were just out on a wander and not out to make any larger financial investment.

It didn’t quite work out. The public was far too interested in my other work. I had many price queries and a couple of commission enquiries too but it just wasn’t in the public’s price range. I will say this now – I am not expensive. It is simply down to the expectations of the people visiting.

Should I perhaps have not displayed my major work and stuck to exhibiting just my ‘affordable’ collages? The trouble is I am not running a shop. I want to be able to have my main practice on show as it is who I am and what I do. I could always not sell anything and just work whilst people visit but the reality is it is very hard to get any work done with people wandering in and out. It also costs quite a lot to put on Open Studios, so clawing anything back financially is always appreciated.

I did manage to sell a few collages in the end, but ironically this was when my studio was so crowded, other visitors couldn’t get in the door properly, so they only had access to the collages at the end of the table. Ha!

We are meant to be trying to do another Open Studios in November. I’m not sure I will be able to participate as I will have just have started my Masters so imagine I will be in the thick of it. However, if I don’t open up, this will let down my colleagues in the other studios. What to do, what to do? I think I shall just not think about this until nearer the time. Actually I don’t want to be thinking about it at all. I want to be thinking about how to further develop my art practice.

Take me to the moon

I recently went on a day trip to Margate specifically to go and see before it finished the Katie Paterson and JMW Turner ‘A place that exists only in moonlight’ exhibition at the Turner Contemporary.

I’m still thinking about this exhibition; it certainly inspired me. This was for a number of reasons – it’s ephemeral beauty, it’s crossing of borders between science, art, music, literature and geology and Patersons collaboration with experts from different disciplines. But perhaps more than anything I was really struck with how it could capture the imagination of most people who visited it. As an example, Katie Paterson’s piece where the score of ‘Moonlight Sonata’ is being played on an automated grand piano. But the music isn’t perfect; whilst clearly recognisable, there are bits missing. Reading the blurb, we find out that the score has been converted to morse code and reflected off the surface of the moon. However bits of it get caught in the moon’s shadows and crevices and it is this incomplete morse code that Is sent back, resulting in a fragmented score being played. We see the morse code ‘before and after’ displayed on the wall as evidence but this isn’t perhaps necessary. What is particularly beguiling is the way in which this art piece takes us all to the moon and back and ever so simply.

Katie Paterson use of Haikus also demonstrates this desire to transport people’s imaginations. They are but a few words placed on a wall but a few very carefully selected combination of words and ideas and when placed in conjunction with a few of Turners delicate watercolours, they have the ability to create an internal ‘shift’.

I can’t pretend to be able to create that kind of magic with my art, but I like the idea of producing work that opens up the viewers imagination.

It’s been a busy month and I’ve struggled to get to my studio. Thankfully this week, it’s getting back to normal. The good news is that I had something to be getting on with straightway so it was right back into it.

I’ve been continuing on with my works on paper; collage and painting explorations. I’ve been using slightly bigger sheets of paper this time and instead of including bits of images from magazines, I’ve been using my own printed out photographs, focusing on some images from the New Zealand landscape. I like the idea of contrasting my painting that has a UK context set against alternative New Zealand imagery.

I was recently asked why I always work in layers. By collaging different shapes onto these painted backgrounds, it creates a kind of interruption. These interruptions brings forth new ways of seeing and create different possibilities. I have come to realise that when it comes to art, I like the unexpected and this way of doing things helps facilitate that.

I think layers also makes the viewer look a bit harder. There is a kind of ‘seeking out’ of some sort of clarity or explanation, which in these cases, can really only be found in the viewer’s psyche. It feels a bit like creating a Rorschach test – and  by this I mean the abstract ink blot tests used in psychology to help examine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning.  However I’m not trying to delve into other people’s inner workings. Quite the opposite, I am trying to cut ties, create openings and move on in fact.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve become rather disillusioned with the whole ‘exhibiting’ rigmarole. That doesn’t mean I will never exhibit again, but I’ve been searching for something to help fuel my art practice in a much wider sense. To this end I have accepted a place on a Masters of Research in Art: Theory and Philosophy course at Central Saint Martins starting later this year. I don’t know what this will specifically bring to my art practice, but I’m looking forward to the copious reading, writing, meeting new people and the different challenges ahead.

Following on from my large paper collages combined with paint, I have moved on for a bit to working on small archival pieces of paper. I was given a small bundle of these a few years ago when I did a demo as part of the Discerning Eye exhibition in the Mall Galleries.

Firstly I created different coloured grounds on these surfaces and then set about collaging shapes I had cut out from a magazine onto them. So far I have played with oil, acrylic and watercolour paint as well as ink when mark making on top of and alongside the collage. I work pretty fast on them, painting instinctively. In other words, there is no plan apart from exploring the interactions between the painted ground, collage and layered mark making. It’s quite exciting coming back the next day after working on them the day before, as I am always surprised by what I see. It feels very fresh and open. I’d like to work back into some of these little works  a bit more, adding some intricate detail but this will be done on a case by case basis.

What is it in art that inspires you? Have you seen or experienced something recently that has made you want to run back to your studio or kitchen table to start making?

I’ve been feeling a bit flat lately and didn’t really have any ideas as to what I was going to be making next. I’ve been finding the process of exhibiting rather an empty experience so I have been seeking a way of instilling some more focus, gravitas and thinking within my work.

To do this, other than reading, attending talks and a wider spread of exhibitions, I have been looking at courses to see whether there was something there, specifically focusing on art and philosophy.

There are definitely a few avenues I could follow but then there is the reality of cost. I’m not sure I can justify the expense, particularly when I have kids who are accumulating considerable student debts that seem likely to need even more from me going forward in this downward turning economic climate.

There was a glimmer of light a couple of weeks ago though. I was on a short trip to Paris with my other half and we went to the Cubism exhibition at the Pompidou centre. I can honestly say it is possibly one of the best exhibitions I have ever been to. It was extensive and incredibly comprehensive including work leading up to the Cubism movement and later work having been influenced by Cubism. It included a fantastic range of artists, paintings and sculpture.

I was blown away by a Cezanne portrait of a women in a blue dress (darn it, didn’t write down the exact title). Anyway this painting absolutely glowed. It was at the start of the exhibition and set the tone in terms of the level of quality to expect going forward.

Among my favourite pieces from the exhibition were a few from the collage and assemblage sections with work from Juan Gris. These were quite small, very quiet and subtle. It is these pieces that have got me thinking about what I’m going to explore next, perhaps not surprising given the nature of my own work.

A friend of mine had given me lots of sheets of paper that was used for packing furniture and these are perfect to stick on the studio wall and start collaging. I have started to play with the collages and mix them with paint and drawing and investigate what the interactions between these might suggest. As it happens I had just completed a much larger collage in my studio, doing exactly this (but on canvas), so have some idea as to some of the outcomes of some of the mark making. The difference going forward is that my new work will be on the packing paper and this adds a different, more temporal and fragile feeling to the final pieces. There is less planning to what I am doing, and more a case of working instinctively.

As for the course, I’m still definitely thinking about that one but would welcome any suggestions.