Talking not writing

Untitled
acrylic on canvas
152 × 203mm
2019

Trying to write some words for my exhibition and noticing I’m much more coherent when talking with people. Here are some notes made from conversations with friends about my upcoming show:

I’m wanting my exhibition to inspire people, so when they leave they want to go and make their own thing.

Where I’d usually show work from the “end of the funnel” in my process – this will be a show of work from an earlier stage of the funnel process. There’ll be several different works, and types of work – a wall work, some paintings, various works on paper. It’ll be a mix of things. It may appear incoherent and that’s ok, challenging but ok.

It’s a conscious decision to show these works at this earlier stage – work which is (hopefully) still open, has potential, and doesn’t have all the answers.

How to show this motley crew of works is a challenge. My previous exhibitions have mostly been quite reduced and focussed. This one, made up of multiple pieces, is less familiar ground for me – which is no bad thing.

It may be the show will feel a little rough in places. Again this idea of an unfinished / raw state pushes me out of my comfort zone of what I find acceptable for an exhibition. And that is partly the point.

Unfamiliar ground in uncertain times.

The exhibition is an honest reflection of where the work and my thinking is now at. Of course, come February I may be in a different place…

Already I’m feeling the urge to go and produce something more resolved for the show. I’m itching to pick one of the various threads and follow it to its conclusion, but that is the next show, not this one.

Each group or type of works could be a seed for my next show, a new body of work or the basis for a residency. I’m wanting to build on this show, using it as the foundation for future proposals and work.

New Old Forms is the beginning of something rather than the end.

← Another small work in progress
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