ARTISTS TALKING

# 27 [22 September 2007]

It's up!

I've spent the last two days at the Foundling putting up the show. Nearly the whole week has been set aside for hanging and while some of the artists are playing it cool and not coming in until near the end I couldn't hold myself back.

There have been a few revisions.

I tried setting the Foundling Opera up with a big screen and projector. Unfortunately as well as obscuring the fireplace it also partially hid the portrait above it. The Foundling Museum representatives looked a tad worried. I'm afraid I buckled instantly and went dashing out to the Tottenham Court road in search of a bargain tv. Its now a lot more discreet than I originally imagined but the colour is better and the whole thing looks much more slick.

Untitled (Portrait of the Trustees) was filmed and edited on Friday and set up on a tiny screen under a table in the picture gallery. I made it without any trustees and tried to edit it so that it resembled its description in the catalogue. Its the only way to do things.

The books cannot rest on the furniture so they are going to be handed out by the volunteers (I like the idea of enthusiastic helpers forcing them on unsuspecting members of the public)

Portrait went up really easily, mainly because I had nothing to do with the process, and looks great.

On the way home I saw a magical show at ROKEBY by Graham Hudson.

# 26 [20 September 2007]

The Thin Red Line

Catherine gave a briefing for the volunteers last night. These people will be the last line of defence between the visitors and our work. They all seemed really enthusiastic and asked lots of questions. This made it hard to retain suitably ironic artistic detachment. Some questions were directed at us artists and luckily Emily Russell immediately bounced into action putting the rest of us to shame. I wanted to explain that I had become really interested in the relationship between self publicity and charity in eighteenth century philanthropy and why I was pleased with the way that my works had fallen short of those of Coram, Hogarth and Handel. Instead I made a joke about giving my picture to the Museum whether they wanted it or not.

Talking to everyone else over a beer it seems that there really might be a curse of Coram. Everybody seems to be working to the wire. Faulty work has had to be sent back, printers have cocked up colours and one artist is due to be delivered of twins during the installation week (this just seems bad planning to me). These various tales of woe made me feel great and I tripped lightly home.

One thing troubles me, Catherine seems convinced that children will like my opera, I think they will be bored stupid by it.

# 25 [18 September 2007]

Separation Anxiety

Most of the stuff has gone off in a van today. Hopefully it will all be waiting for me at the museum to install on Friday. The trustees have defeated me. So instead I will be filming an empty room (also on Friday). The resulting video will still be titled Untitled (Portrait of the Trustees) and will be screened on a tiny tft screen in a corner. I've gone off the little books of drawings so I might not exhibit them, but I still want to show the mis-spelt diary.

Meanwhile missives have been flying through the ether about galleries to visit and gallerists to schmooze. I've sent some of them work in the past with little luck, but maybe my new connections will help them reassess its value. Ive been in this situation before and I'm never sure whether to bring it up or not ;)

Anyway I'm looking forward to the show opening. This diary is making me incredibly self-obsessed so I thought I'd bung up some pictures of work by some of the other exhibitors.

These are just the ones I have copies of.

# 24 [14 September 2007]

The Curse of Coram

The Portrait is framed, wrapped in a blanket and awaiting collection whenever that will be. I'm going up to London on Monday to make a film with or without trustees and to top off a week of stunning successes my beautifully bound Diary of a Foundling Artist, which is based on this blog arrived this morning. Unfortunately the gold tooled lettering on the spine read Diary of a Founding Artist. This was the only part of the book I didn't have to specify, the printers do it for you from your title. I had a lovely chat with Jennifer about this and the printers are going to "do their best" to have a corrected copy with me the day before the show opens. I have reached a Zen-like state of complete peace now.

# 23 [10 September 2007]

Drama Queen

The portrait turned up today (see picture). I was also at the Air event in Colchester tonight talking about my key issues with David Kefford and Caroline Wright. I overcame my nervousness by transforming into a complete clown but that's ok. I did discover from David that the commissions east 'man with a van' was in fact not turning up on Wednesday so my panic was completely unfounded. All I need to do is learn to pick up the phone and talk to people rather than stewing in my own juices. Anyway all I have to do now is flounce off to the framers on my way to work tomorrow and everything will be lovely again. I also had a message from Alison at the Foundling Museum, she is a step closer to coralling the very shy trustees. I now feel invincible, nothing can possibly go wrong.

# 22 [8 September 2007]

Lost in Peru

The lenticular was meant to turn up Friday, so I waited in all day, but no show. I finally got through to the company who sent it and they said it left Thursday for guaranteed next day delivery. This is a new definition of guaranteed that I haven't come across before. After a brief discussion and a bit of phoning round we worked out that it should arrive Monday (when I won't be able to be around for collection) or it might have gone to Peru by mistake. Either way there is no way I'll be able to get it framed in time for collection by the Commissions East van. So hopefully I will be faced with lugging it across London just in time for the opening, or a trip to Peru. Clearly its going to look awful if I don't have the work to show. My rank of 'emerging artist' will be revoked, my wife will leave me and dogs will cross the street to avoid me.

So far I have:

# 21 [31 August 2007]

Still Waiting

Its all going down to the wire. Still no news about filming the trustees. The photo should arrive next Friday (a week later than I thought) I rushed out to the framers today to set everything up so that they could get the frame made hopefully the day before the van arrives to pick it up. Meanwhile I got an email from Generator Projects, Dundee asking to see some more recent work with a view (I assume) to possibly having a show with them next year, maybe. What shocked me as I was putting together a dvd & bumph was how my output seems to have dropped in the last year. Strangely this exactly coincides with my involvement with Commissions East and the Arts Council. I'm sure part of my grant application talked about creating more time for my practice. These thoughts have coincided with an invitation to come and talk at the next Air event in Colchester. I will be discussing "the key issues for me and my practice in the future" with fellow Foundling artist David Kefford and Caroline Wright who I'm sure I met in a pub once. I have to admit I really hadn't thought about this before, usually I tend to bob around like a duck with a broken leg.

Anyway I started writing a list of ideas to mumble about. I thought that anyone who is thinking about coming could read it, and change their minds.

Key Issues
Gallery league system (in my mind) and going up to the next division.
How to break in (strategic thinking)
“Build it and they will come”
International (I meant artist)
Exhibiting and its disappointments.
Getting more out of exhibitions
How to go on if you don’t like solo exhibitions
Other strategies
Time and Space – not all it’s cracked up to be.
Being a professional
Sales and how to avoid them.
Being confident about the value of my work
Saying no
Money (wanting it)

Commissions
Workshops
Discussions like this one
This blogging thing

# 20 [20 August 2007]

I'm playing that waiting game now. I'm waiting for the Trustees' portrait to arrive in time to get it to the framers so it can be framed in time for collection to be taken to the museum.

I'm waiting for enough trustees to be foregathered so that I can film them. This has become more important as Gill has written about the piece for the catalogue. I'm half thinking about faking the whole thing like the NASA moon landings or going out with a dart gun.

I'm also waiting for a book version of this blog to arrive from the printers and realising now that I will have to do another version with this post in it.

On top of this I'm beginning to worry about the price of failure. Apparently in the Eighteenth century you could be hung for lots of things including: the concealment of effects by bankrupts and the malicious maiming of cattle.

# 19 [9 August 2007]

Envelope Stuffing

The proofs for the lenticular portrait arrived yesterday. I stuck them on the stairs and spent most of the day walking past them trying to decide which one was best. This morning has been taken up with organising packs of material to be sent off to various galleries in and around London with a view to getting them interested prior to the opening of RSVP. In my experience cold calling like this hardly ever works, but you never know and I quite like printing and stapling and stuffing envelopes.

# 18 [3 August 2007]

The Foundling Opera

I've stripped the film bare, I've even pared down the rather thin soundtrack I had made earlier. Now occasional and distant snatches of tune fade in an out of a largely silent film. I feel like the bloody thing has finally escaped me and my boring intent. It is, however, going to be incredibly difficult for an audience to sit through, not that gallery audiences tend to do that anyway.

I had a chat with Catherine Butcher about revealing the failure of my original intentions & she was quite keen on me writing some text to go alongside the film.

On the practical side I also had to email a list to Jo of all the stuff I need transporting to the museum, how I intend to hang it and insurance value. To the other Jo, I had to send off a list of ten (and no more than ten) people to be invited to the very select private view. Unfortunately she wants this info on a spreadsheet so I have booked some IT lessons at the local college.