ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [26 November 2009]

26/11/2009

The first blog for this exhibition!  How exciting.  I have been wanting to organise an exhibition like this one for a long time but never had the balls to do it.  It is wonderful how much of a response I have had so far, pretty remarkable actually.  I was sitting around one day watching the world pass by and it dawned on me, I need to start painting again.  It has been a while since I have last painted.  Having been shot down by the Royal Academy this year I felt that I wasn't good enough to paint.  Watching the water flow past down the river it suddenly occurred to me that this is what I should be doing.  I need to paint, I felt a sudden rush of adreniline, a flutter from within.  It's like an addiction, I need to paint!

I now have the venue and the artists in place.  Each artist has a unique quality and very different backgrounds.  The venue is also quite unique, it is large and is due to be changed into another space.  It will be an exciting journey to see what these artists will produce, given that they were only told a title and to work to that title!  The reason for choosing these different artists is to see how they will react to the title and to try to understand how each artist responds.  It will be my challenge to fit each artists work together to make a fluid and quite spectacular show.

The next reason for choosing the title is a confusing one.  I was sitting around thinking and thinking of the best possible title and my mind was a blank, a nothing, I couldn't think of a single thought.  All I could think of was how different these artists are and how I want to bring them together into unity.  We are all divided by some form of boundary.  Whether it is through land or ethics, we have some kind of dividing line in our life.  This seemed to be the most appropriate title, 'Dividing Lines'.

It is not about how well you can paint or how well you can talk about work, it is about your idea, how you can communicate your idea through your artwork.  There are too many high and mighty's, this is purely to bring artists together to produce new artwork where their ideas are conveyed.

# 2 [11 March 2010]

I haven't written anything for a while abou the exhibition, which is pretty naughty of me!  The exhibition planning is going well.  Lot's of interest already from people who want to see new work from all of the artists.   Having been unwell for a while I haven't been able to paint or do any form of artwork, though, this time I have had has been spent thinking about how the exhibition will look and what the outcome will be.  I have also thought a lot about what I will eventually exhibit, having had to change my plans due to ill health, this has given me the chance to exhibition something far more stronger and cohesive.  I am incorporating my ill health and thoughts into the artwork, including ideas of dreams and the unconscious mind.

Initially I wanted to show how well I could paint, though through months of thought I am now able to show a development of an idea that shows a cohesive progession (hopefully!!)  and draw the viewer in by the quality rather than the quantity of 'just' good paintings.  I have decided to encorporate both photographic material with a series of paintings, in a symetrical manner, yet I am having visions of complete chaos within the space, which could be quite interesting (with the idea of the unconscious and the unscious not being in order, just a random load of images and visions...)