I have been looking at the catalogue to the recent Miró show and I confess that certain things influenced my starting place for #Letter365 and in one way wish I hadn’t. I have been working on other aspects of getting this #Letter365 show on the road (and taking time out for a massage – much needed!) so I had left the creation of the artwork till quite late and it ended up taking much longer than I wished. It is a return to a theme I worked on a while ago and I am thinking I may do a lot more on once I have got this project out of the way,
Sometimes it all goes so swimmingly! I thought about this one on the way to the studio and wondered how it would work and apart from one minor hitch that I had to compensate for it all just fell into place and worked perfectly. If only everything in life was such a joy!
“How can that be” you say, “two #Letter365 postings on one day?” Well as you can see from the image above it was me that had to cough up for the fact I forgot the stamp the other day. Of course, when presented with the Post Office card, I couldn’t just nip round to the sorting office and pick it up as I’m not supposed to touch it again till we install the show. So I had to get the stamps and send off the card to get the piece delivered. Later in the day I popped No337 in the same post box.
No337 gets posted
Now the thing about No337 is I found it difficult at first to appraise its quality. I had been busy all day and just come from a meeting with Laura and Megan at Arts Centre planning the installation and though I had the idea quite quickly, my head was in a different space. It took me a while to move from the administrative state I was in and reconnect with my art life. I suppose you could say I should have trusted my instinct whatever state I was in – and I am very pleased with the result – but I had to be sure. It was worthwhile to have to find a way to switch states quickly so I now have some useful techniques at my command.
I spent the day in London to check out the Works On Paper fair at the Science Museum so posted my piece at South Kensington. I subsequently visited the excellent Marlene Dumas exhibition that just opened today at Tate Modern all of which you can hear more about on my blog.
One benefit of buying art unseen is that no one can question your taste. If someone says “why on earth did you buy that?” You can respond that you didn’t choose it, the artist did, you merely bought the idea (and it was cheap).
What do you get for your money when you buy a #Letter365 piece? You get a story: a story of how you were an art visionary; how you instantly understood the whole wonder of unseen art. You’ll laugh and joke as you tell the story and your friends will think you deep and intellectual; they will think you know a lot about art. You can tell them about meeting the artist at the private view of the installation, of the deep conversation you had, how amusing and witty you both were. You’ll talk of all the other influential art aficionados you met there and glow with pride.
I had a good day as far as #Letter365 related things are concerned. I made some arrangements for the installation and got my head round some planning and created a nice piece, but there’s always petty stuff cropping up to try and take away. Today I had people threatening to damage my car (and/or me!) for parking outside their house, claiming it was residents’ parking and a private road: none of which is true. Clearly these folk have had problems over some time, and I really didn’t mean to upset them, but it seemed that they had nothing else going on but watching out for people parking in “their” space. I do have some sympathy for them if they have a genuine problem, had I been blocking their car in for example, but there were plenty of spaces. I really didn’t expect threatening behaviour like that in sleepy old Bridport! I tried not to let it take the edge off the good things.
I am so thankful for the acts of kindness people do for each other unbidden and even undeserved. It does so much to restore my faith in humanity and offset all the thoughtless, cruel, carping, greedy and petty things we are subject to each day. I am so often amazed that most people are courteous and wish no harm to others and can often act altruistically and generously.
Today I have been working with a friend who has very generously provided his time, skill, art and ideas to enrich this project. It is interesting how a number of artists and performers have expressed interest in contributing to this project but until today it has just been one person that has turned a little interest into action. Today, while we were working on the project another artist approached me with offers of help in a different way. These acts make it easier to bite my tongue and try to have patience with some of the less generous and thoughtful experiences of the day. And it would be great if some of the previous offers could come good! Fingers crossed!
No332 gets posted in winter sunshine (but actually in the shade!)
In less than 5 weeks I will be rid of this project – well at least the daily making of some artwork from scratch. I might get to explore some of the ideas that have emerged during the daily inspiration and labour. I also may try to remake some of the pieces that will get burned because nobody will buy them. I have just looked through the first three months and there are some sublime pieces. some good pieces and some that are ok. Nothing that I would be ashamed of and, interestingly, a piece I remember doing seems really good now though when I did it I was worried it might be a little trite.
An unfolding artwork created a piece each day for a year
