After coming a "very close second" (again) I’ve decided to take notice of what’s happening and STOP applying for jobs! I’m obviously supposed to be an artist and not an employee – why has it taken me so long to work that out? So that’s few hours a week of trawling in the internet saved.
I’m really grateful to Caroline Smith for programming me into her Day of Intimacy (CP Artists, Signals 5). It’s re-introduced me to writers and performers. It feels like it might be the right time for me to re-engage with live art.
A crisis in John’s condition was narrowly avoided at the end of last week. He’s been losing weight rather rapidly but became dehydrated too. He was rushed in hospital and had a naso-gastric tube fitted. This means that he can get sufficent fluids and nourishment again.
It is any wonder that I’m getting more interested in ideas of beauty, getting more fascinated with materials, getting more attracted to connoisseurship . I need to believe there are things that aren’t tainted, aren’t spoiled, aren’t shadowed by misfortune.
After years of making art that tries so hard to be socially and culturally relevant I feel a shift…
The live/durational part of Bed was completed at 4.55pm on Saturday (started at 12.00 noon). The day was really good and I’m really pleased with way the piece turned out. The completed drawing surprised me with it’s beauty.
The process was both formal, in that I had a pre-determined task to complete, and informal, in so much as I chatted with my ‘audience’. Conversations ranged from the sizes of people’s bed and sleeping habits to the expectations one brings to looking at art. A woman stall-holder at the nearby market came three times to see the piece. On the second and third times she brought different friends – she initiated a heated discussion about what is and what isn’t art.
I hadn’t given much thought to how the finished drawing would look. It’s beauty caught me unaware and I found myself smiling and feeling very proud if it. There were a few moments when the drawing had the same quality as the sky above it. It was almost as if it stopped representing something real and took on a realtionship with light and space.
The piece will now be left to weather. I will go back and take periodic photographs of its erasure.
This was my first live work in about six years – I want to do more ….
I’ve been thinking a lot about BED, the live work I’m making for the Day of Intimacy event. And the more I think about it the more I think I want to write an accompanying essay or hand book!
What’s this desire to write about then? I can’t guarantee that it’s not an attempt to pre-empt criticism that the piece is juvenille. I can’t guarantee that it’s not an attempt to demonstrate how much I think about what appears to be simple work.
But outside of academia (which I am) does this kind of writing have a place? Who, and where, are my imagined readers?
I’m getting a bit anxous about how long the task I’ve set myself will take. Previous task vased durational work has taken considerably longer that I imagined it would. There’s something quite poetic about finishing it late in the evening – at bedtime.
The Hunters & Collectors ‘Meet the Artists’ event last night was really good. After a welcome and introduction by Linda Duffy (Co-curator) each of us spoke about our work in response to Linda’s question about source materials and process.
The discuss was very informal and relaxed with the audience and other artists making contributions and comments as we talked about the work.
It was great to have this opportunity. I found it fascinating to hear about other artist’s intentions and motivations. The areas of overlap and intersection between very different approaches was very interesting, perhaps it was a reflection of skillful curating that quite divergent artists were able to spark off each other. The discussion felt really vibrant and vital, as well as accessible and enjoyable!
I’m going to suggest this kind of event for future group shows I’m in. How lucky am I? – to spend an evening talking about my work with other artists and curators, having a glass of wine, and calling it work!
BED – the live work I’m making for the Day of Intimacy (Signals 5’s day of live and performance art) – will be my first live piece in about five years.
The task I’ve set myself is to chalk out an area the same size (and compass orientation) as my own bed. I’m starting at noon and really don’t know how long it will take – I’m imaging that I’ll finish the drawing in time to see some of the evening performances.
My intention was always to leave the drawing to weather. I imagine it being worn away by people walking over it as well as by rain, wind, sun. In the last few days I’ve become interested in how the piece lasts longer than the ‘one day’ of it’s making. The imagined erasure of the drawing has acquired weight.
Beds are already such loaded objects – I can’t help but think of their cultural associations with birth, death and marriage. Here I am planning to represent what is usually a private place very publicly.
BED starts 12.00 noon, Saturday 1 September. Antenna Studios, Haynes Lane, London SE19
www.myspace.com/signalsinlondon
