Keeping It Going

I’m amazed that this is my first blog post of 2023, but then I suppose it reflects pretty accurately how much has been going on since the start of this year – life events, mainly – not art-related stuff. It feels like there’s been a shift in focus this past week and so, here I am – back in blog writing mode and also starting to feel back on the proverbial saddle with regards to thinking about and making work …

Perpetuity: the state or quality of lasting forever versus Precariousness: the state of being dangerously likely to fall or collapse

I’ve been looking through recent photographs of objects, taken in a corner of my existing studio. There’s something about the overall sense of shabbiness of this corner that frequently suits the objects I place there for photographing – the light is good, too.

Nobody’s sure of the time scale yet, but the studio building’s about to be redeveloped – knocked down, essentially – my studio with it, alongside those of yet another community of artists, being moved on. The gentrification of Deptford has been evident for quite some time now but it doesn’t seem that long ago that a community of artists was moved on from Cor studios in Creekside. I was a part of that group, too.

Cor studios, when they were there, and currently ArtHub studios, neighbour the APT gallery and studio complex. The ‘P’ in APT stands for perpetuity – the state of lasting forever. What a brilliant investment the APT artists made when they bought the building. How lovely it must be to have the comfort and sense of security of knowing that you’re able to hold onto your studio – forever. In contrast, for many artists, the P so often stands for precariousness.

It looks likely that once planning permission is 100% granted, the entire ArtHub studio building will be knocked down. I’ve been wondering if the new developers would allow me to keep a part of my existing studio – just this small, corner part of it, so that I continue with my ‘From the studio …’ photographs of objects. It’ll probably be far too impractical & complicated to manage – too heavy, probably to take away, but on the basis of nothing ventured, nothing gained, I think I might give it a shot. Or perhaps in time, I’ll look at losing the studio as just another challenge – another step on my journey of letting go, in all senses of the word. Let’s see …

Holiday time reflections …

‘The malt whisky that used to be offered, the crystal wine glasses no longer used, the napkin holders, redundant in a drawer, the placemats infrequently out of their box, the jelly moulds, the cake slice – the cake frills and candles … signs of the times: ageing and a world increasingly shrinking, family gatherings and the paraphernalia associated with them no longer needed – cluttering up the cupboards. ‘I’ve got to get rid of all this stuff – I don’t want the family cursing me when I’m gone …’   (Kate Murdoch, November 2022)                                                              

As someone who’s had these conversations with family members recently, I’ve been left wondering at what point the objects in our home might start to become a burden to us, rather than something to be enjoyed. Such conversations tie in very well, of course, with the ones I so often have with myself in relation to my studio and the amount of stuff I’m continuing to hold onto …

I’m always interested to hear others’ responses to any work I make. On seeing my most recent piece of work, ‘Meat too’ (ii) an artist I know commented on how they would ‘never have recognised this work’  as mine. The word ‘aggressive’ was mentioned and I know what they meant; this second piece of work in the series is undoubtedly so. I’m glad it was picked up on because it’s precisely the feeling underlying the work, echoing not just the overwhelming feelings of anger felt by numerous women who associate themselves with the #metoo movement, but for many others, too.

Nevertheless, the comment about how different this piece was from other work I’ve made, intrigued me. I think ‘Meat too’ (ii) has a definite connection to other pieces – more explicit in this particular piece, perhaps, but it’s there – in ‘Sweet Nothings’ and ‘that’ dress – work that goes back to 2015. It reminds me of the consistent thread running throughout my work – my fascination with the ongoing objectification of women, essentially – the attempts to silence them, as well as the perpetual violence and harm which tragically, continues to be inflicted upon many.

As I said in my last post here, a lot of the work I make addresses the different ways in which women, through the male gaze and objectification, are often judged by how they look and how they behave. Miss World and other beauty pageants spring to mind – the ultimate in meat marketing. In the absence of any real significant change, my interest in the restrictions imposed on women continues – women living their lives under scrutiny, constantly reminded of the importance to look a ‘certain’ way, forced to ‘know their place’ and often unable to exist freely or be their true, authentic selves.

‘Meat too’ (ii), 2022 (as shown above) was included as part of the ‘All Under One Roof’ exhibition, curated by Luke Merryweather at the Art Hub studios in Deptford, London. The work of fourteen artists who live or work in Deptford was included in the show and continued throughout the first weekend of the Deptford X art festival, 2022.

There’s a definite autumnal ‘back to school’ feel in the air which makes me feel like I need to get myself organised. I have a lot coming up in terms of sorting my home & work spaces and so it feels good to take some time to catch up with things on this blog before becoming completely re-immersed in it all.

I’ve been looking back over the summer and thinking about what a great pleasure it was to take part in the group show ‘Always On My Mind’ at the Fitzrovia Gallery in London at the end of July. The show was curated by artist Harry Pye and raised funds for the National Brain Appeal charity. More details about the show and Harry’s thinking behind it can be read here:

http://fitzroviagallery.co.uk/myportfolio/always-on-my-mind-an-exhibition-in-aid-of-the-national-brain-appeal/

The National Brain Appeal raises much-needed funds for The National Hospital of Neurology and Neurosurgery and the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. The National Hospital is one of the world’s leading centres for the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with a wide range of neurological and neuromuscular conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, brain cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, migraine and dementia.

‘Always on my Mind’ included the work of 16 artists:  

Magda Archer, Gordon Beswick, Sasha Bowles, Nick Cave, Billy Childish, Matthew Collings, Alice Herrick, Corin Johnson, James Johnston, Francis Macdonald, Kate Murdoch, Carson Parkin-Fairley, Harry Pye, Elena-Andreea Teleaga, Twinkle Troughton and Tracey Williams.

The work ranged from collage, drawing, installation, photography, painting, prints to sculpture.

The title of the exhibition came from the name of an Elvis Presley song that was number one 50 years ago. As well as the obvious link to the Elvis song, Harry also asked those participating to think about issues that were frequently on their own minds.

Female identity is one of the themes I return to again and again in my work and I submitted two pieces, featuring women, ‘Meat Too’ and ‘Reflection.’ Both pieces refer to ‘good’ women – women compelled to conform to what society expects of them. I wrote this about the work when I was ready to submit it:

‘A lot of the work I make addresses the different ways in which women, through the male gaze and objectification, are often judged by how they look and how they behave. I’m fascinated by the inevitable restrictions this imposes on women – living our lives under scrutiny, constantly reminded of ‘knowing our place’ and often unable to exist freely or be our true authentic selves.

This inequality between the lives of women versus men is something I’ve been acutely aware of from a young age and continues to be an issue I think about a lot. As well as addressing these issues on a personal level, ‘Meat Too’ and ‘Reflection’ open up opportunities for a response from a wider audience and invite further social and political debate around gender and women’s place in society.’

Below are images of the two pieces of work I submitted for the ‘Always on my Mind’ show. For further photos of the opening night, here’s a link to Harry’s Rebel Magazine blog:

http://therebelmagazine.blogspot.com/2022/07/photos-from-opening-party-of-always-on.html

‘Meat Too’ – Kate Murdoch 2022

‘Reflection’ – Kate Murdoch 2022

July marked ten years since I wrote my first ever post here and I meant to acknowledge it.* The recent heatwave, plus contracting Covid for the first time, means that life’s slowed down somewhat over the past few weeks/months, however and I just haven’t found the motivation to write.

I’ve missed writing here and as I’ve said so many times, maintaining this blog over the years has provided me with a good, solid record, not just of the work I’ve managed to make, but the multitude of things that come with that. It helps me look back, tie up any loose ends and often, guides me towards new ideas and work. I invariably complete a post, feeling more organised, more settled and ready to move forward.

Bringing all the loose strands together and maintaining a thorough record of the various things I’ve been involved with or have been working on, feels positive and restorative – centres me. It picks up forgotten, coincidental stuff – the bits of work here and there, the gallery visits, the zoom calls with other artists – all so easily overlooked, but all of which fill my time and contribute to living life as a working artist. It’s good to remind myself of this every now and then – to remember the ‘coincidental stuff’ the next time I’m beating myself up for not making enough work!

Time for reflection can be equally as important as making the work and I’ve had time over these past few weeks to take time out, sit quietly and look back. To acknowledge ten long years of keeping it going with this blog, I looked back at the very early posts I wrote in 2012. One of them from July 2012, was about an invasion of rats:

https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/keeping-it-going-1/date/2012/07/ 

I remember being a bit reticent writing about it at the time, having vermin on the premises revealing a pretty unsavoury side of my life. Admittedly, it was confined to the garden shed but it still felt far too close for comfort, rats so commonly associated with dirt and filth. I had the choice of not sharing anything at all about it, but a lot of the materials and objects the rats destroyed were intended for my future work. I remember being really upset finding some precious items, wrecked beyond repair – so, why wouldn’t I mention it! Life, with all its highs and lows, is part and parcel of being an artist – you can’t just separate the two!

The rat invasion has definitely made me feel a bit nervous about my imminent plans to move my stuff out of storage and into a recently built shed in my garden. I’ll vermin proof it as well as I can but they’re pretty determined creatures by all accounts and short of steel storage boxes, I think I just have to hope for the best. (In the meantime, anyone with any tried and tested tips, do please let me know!)

It’s nothing new for me, as juggling with space and storage and huge amounts of ‘stuff’ is an integral, ongoing part of how I work, but it’s about to really get going in the next few weeks or so. In order not to feel completely overwhelmed when I made the big house move in June of last year, I separated my art materials and took them to a nearby commercial storage space. I budgeted for the cost (high!) and the plan always, was to keep the art materials in storage for a year in order to focus on sorting the house first. It’s August now and that plan’s nearly 4 months overdue. But as I said, life goes on and all sort of obstacles get put in the way and what you think will happen might not necessarily be so. It was a complete pleasure to have him, but having one of my adult sons at home for a while and leaving behind his stuff before heading off for a year in South America, followed by me recovering from Covid, has inevitably stalled things a bit. But that’s okay – it is what it is and, though addressed to a mouse rather than a rat, a line from Rabbie Burn’s poem sums it up perfectly: ‘the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley.’

In terms of catching up and using this blog as a space for recording what actually has been happening, I was really pleased and truly honoured, I have to say, to be contacted by painter Graham Crowley, letting me know that he’d created some paintings of the studio space I had at Bond House in New Cross, London. And it was a real treat to be able to see one of them in real life in the first part of Graham’s solo show ‘Workplaces & Wildspaces’ at Monica Petzal’s spectacular Print Room Studio in Sweffling, Suffolk at the end of May this year. You can see Graham being interviewed about the show by artist and founder of art review website ArtTop10, Robert Dunt here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UL9y4Tswug

And you can also see Graham’s paintings of my studio (Kate Murdoch’s Studio 1, 2 & 3) under ‘Recent Paintings’ on his website here:

https://www.grahamcrowley.co.uk/recent-paintings-2

I’m looking forward to getting back into the studio and establishing some sort of routine again soon. Things have slipped a bit since having Covid but I’m feeling much better now and eager to get back to work on a couple of ideas. It feels good to feel more organised, in my head at least, in the meantime – all helped by finally finding the energy to sit down and write this blog post.

I had no idea when I first started ‘Keeping It Going’ in July 2012 that I’d still be writing it after ten years. It’s clear, I think – and in this post, particularly – that I’m really glad that I have.

There’s more to catch up on with other things that happened over the summer months – ‘Always on My Mind’  for example, was an amazing exhibition organised and curated by painter, Harry Pye at the Fitzrovia Gallery in London. But more about that in another post because, just like the decluttering of stuff that’s about to start, it’s also good I think, not to clutter the blog with too much information!

And so, more anon …

* It was however, acknowledged by Stephen Palmer at a-n who kindly published an article, inspired by conversations between Stuart Mayes, Elena Thomas and myself about the impact of long term blogging. I hadn’t quite reached the 10 year mark when the article was published last year but I’m there now! If you’re interested, you can read it here:

https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/a-qa-with-elena-thomas-kate-murdoch-and-stuart-mayes-artists-and-a-n-bloggers/