I’ve been reading Michael Atavar’s ‘How to be an Artist’ (top tips always appreciated) and finding it working in a very serendipitous way. Dipping in at random – like taking a fortune card, I have always found something pertinant to my current situation – this may be because I permanantly have a lot of issues, but I like to think that the book just knows what I need to be advised upon at that moment.
So today’s page has made me think again about the materials that I use and why I use them. Pertinent to this is also Stuart Mayes – Project Me blog of today
www.a-n.co.uk/p/377860
where he talks about washing the used reclaimed items that he uses as his materials. This also applies to my work.
Atavar advocates using the best materials you can and in this way demonstrating to yourself and others that you value your work. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with this it makes me question exactly what I am saying about myself in my choice of old and stained clothing as a medium. To relish the blemish – is this a protest against perfection? or am I saying that underneath it all I don’t really value what I am doing enough to buy new things?
I really don’t know. And I am coming to the conclusion that I may not know but my subconcious has it all figured out and there is nothing I can do about it as I don’t seem able or interested in using anything else at the moment.
All I have to hope is that my subconcious has my best interests at heart.
That is it! I am finished with The Summer Exhibition.
WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!
I remember back in the mid 1980’s when my father bemoaned the lack of quality of said exhibition and going just after I had finished my A levels. He wasn’t impressed. The only thing I remember about it was that someone had made a big mooosehead out of planks of wood. If it was you, please congratulate yourself on being a great inspiration to my early art career.
I have attended intermittently ever since. The past few years with small children (including the year my naughty daugter spent the entire vist pinching all the red dots that show what has sold) and it has become a bit of a family event with great shriekings over inflated pricings of dodgy work with the much argued over catalogues (they only give them out to adults and over 12 tickets – much to my 10 year old son’s horror).
Every year there has been some rubbish yes, but not to the scary extent of this year. A couple of interesting ideas – pegs are big this year. I was going to list more – but frankly I can’t really remember much else – all a bit of a mush.
Oh Summer Exhibition 2012 – where is your mooosehead?
Currently in ‘holiday time limbo’ I am happily ignoring my pile of jobs and instead forcing as many art opportunities upon my (protesting) children as possible in the desperate belief that this is the same as actually getting some work done. They love it really.
Tomorrow we are off to The RA Summer Exhibition where I go every year to curse the work that got accepted and wonder why I am collecting their fifty quid a pop rejection letters…. grrr…..
