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I thought I was supposed to be going to Bedford today to begin setting up my show. Admittedly there was a message from Eva on my answer machine, a very long message. But I have no clue what it said. My answer machine often records fuzzy mumbling for me or sometimes nothing at all. Usually the messages are something to do with life assurance so I don't mind. Anyway having wrestled a large bag of potential shelves to the gallery door I found it locked. Perhaps I should have phoned her. As I pressed my face against the window I could see that lots of work had been going on, the walls looked painted and there was a test graphic of the title on the wall. I took some pictures and drove home. On the way I saw absolutely nothing interesting.


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I keep leaving it too long between posts, it has been 19 days since my last confession. I am going to have to force myself to get back into the habit.There has been so much I could have written about and I have no excuses for my extreme laziness. In the interests of brevity I'm going for a sort of list approach in roughly chronological order.

1. Went to London to see a show at Rokeby really liked it and started to write something to send to Josie for "Hit and Miss" the deadline is looming and I'm getting a bit depressed with the half finished jumble of words I have on my desktop.

2. The same day one of our students died of a brain haemorrhage, he was a lovely lad (they always are). Very tall too.

3. Met up with Eva at BCA to drop off the last bits (honestly) for "Goodbye to most of the daydreams" picked up the invite cards and discussed a few bits and bobs.

4. Stayed on to see Jane Edden's talk at the gallery. She was really good and her Icarus film was beautiful (I've just realised I was supposed to email her).

5. Recieved a rejection from the Daiwa Foundation and was asked to show work in France in Kerry Baldry's One Minute Volume 3 and James Hutchinson (via Axis) invited me to be in a show of video and performances in Manchester and Switzerland. Apparently Laurence and Paulette at International 3 had recommended one of my films to him, so that pack I sent off 2 years ago must have worked. I also got some work into UAMO in Munich (AN opportunity) but had to go through the humiliation of calling Johannes and asking him what I had submitted.

6. Had a show in a local gallery with a friend. Lots of people came and made lovely comments. But I wish I hadn't bottled out and spent a fortune on framing as I didn't sell anything. Still Hayley Lock asked me if I would do a swap and I love her stuff so that's not a total dead loss.

7. We invited Jock Mooney to come and talk to our students today, he did a good shouty presentation which we thoroughly enjoyed. Afterward he said he'd seen my work at Vane, it turned out it wasn't the Protest Films which were in a little show there but rather compilation they were looking at in the office. He didn't get into the Daiwa foundation thing either so he, me and Hayley are planning a drunken sneerfest at the opening of the London show.

8. Josie sent me an invite to a show at space wwhich read "which I hope that you will come to see and review for a-n if you so wish." note the scary bold, I'd better do it.


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I've been to BCA gallery three times in the last month now. Just popping backwards and forwards dropping work off and talking to Eva about how to hang the show. Its quite odd looking back through work made last year (although I have added the odd bit since) I've designed the invite card (twenty two versions) and agonised over the merits of correct grammar vs the poetic (in my mind). I've given Eva a list of galleries to schmooze, which she has started to do already. Eva is very tenacious and not willing to be put off by aloof British ways. I feel sorry for them. I've had things framed and stressed about the relative merits of reflective and non reflective glass. I've thought about shelves and relationships between different works. Luckily I will run out of time soon and just bung everything up. At the same time I'm about to set up a very local show with a friend of mine (Andrew Vass). It has no title now because the gallery owner didn't understand the one we proposed, and a bizarrely secret opening party. Anyway, I've designed the invite card. I've had things framed and stressed about the relative merits of reflective and non reflective glass. I've thought about shelves and relationships between different works. Luckily I will run out of time soon and just bung everything up. The next post will be more interesting I promise.


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Three of my friends dragged me out of my pit last night to go and see a drawing show in London. A sort of invitational melange at Crimestown called Drawing with Dolphins curated by Marcus Cope and Stephanie Moran. It was fabulous and so packed that we had to conga our way twisting like olympic limboers around the curatorial dolphins that hung from the ceiling. Drawings were everywhere including the ceiling. We even snaked our way into the toilets to find some lovely little snowman photocopies, though I felt people were looking at us strangely when we emerged together after 5 minutes. I'm really enjoying this jumble sale approach to hanging shows, I've seen a few recently and was wondering if it was some sort of new credit crunch aesthetic. There is certainly a sense of getting your money's worth (not that it cost me anything).

Recently I have been doing quite well at private views but I did manage one moment of mild humiliation. I wanted to look at a lovely pencil drawing of a woman with no eyes situated behind the buttocks of a chatting clique. I saw my chance when a small space was made by a more confident viewer. Just as she moved away I swooped in for a look. Simultaneously the clique, carrying out some sort of balletic plot, stepped backwards closing the space and I was forced to pull out of my dive pirouetting away with hunched shoulders and bowed head. Three people were watching laughing hysterically.


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This is late in coming but I thought I ought to write an 'aftermath post' The main reason I'm doing this is to distract myself from writing my evaluation for my Arts Council Grant. Its been a valuable exercise by which I mean a complete pain in the bum (not the Grant, the evaluation). If only I'd kept my Arts Council spending figures separate from the rest of my accounts. Its a tangled web which I am trying to unweave. Still I've worked out that although I haven't achieved everything I had promised I've managed to spend an absolute fortune on other areas. Either I will be praised for my zeal or sued for financial mismanagement. I just have to work out which column to put a cheese and chutney sandwich I had in Stoke on Trent…

San Francisco was fun, showing my work, rubbing shoulders and heaving fish tanks with people I've heard of.

http://www.thingsthatarenthuman.com/

I forgot to mention there is also a book of writing to go along with the exhibition which has excerpts from this blog nestling amongst some much better writing.


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