We have taken a study on a new road of mown in the field we refer to as 'the cut' field and I am pleased to report that, due specifically to having been out painting, our mood has improved since the previous post in which the gloom of reality reigned down. Let it always be remembered how restorative it is to trudge out into the fields, find a little corner where one is quite alone, and work with the colour for a few hours. With this tonic always available what does it matter if we fail to sell, or if we must fill the shelfs of Lidl, or pick the plastic from the streets? Indeed with our failure to secure sales so definitively demonstrated in the 2018 debacle1 we are left with only the motivations of the DS and the need to work on to quench the thirst for the particular pleasures of plein air work. In our video messages to the benefactor Dave2 we referred to this striped back artistic position as a state of 'wretchedness'. A state where the failure to sell, or gain funding, means that all bets are off, all aspirations are now psychological, and all ambition is personal; it is a very great feeling actually. Of course it would not be the case in business. Imagine a small enterprise, perhaps selling wooden spoons or something, in which a business plan has been made, materials purchased, premises rented and trade begins. If no sales are achieved then that is the end, no if's and's or but's. In the arts, however, we can continue on with only our inner desire and strength determining how long one keeps up the ghost (note).3 That and perhaps ones immunity to shame from either ones own failure or the general pressure to earn. Indeed it can become absurd to plough on as if ones life depended on it when there is no gain or even any showing of the work. It is not too far here to speak of General Aureliano and his obsession with making little gold fishes in his shed;4 he makes'em, then he melts'em down, then he makes'em, then he melts'em down.
Well, we don't melt them but we certainly make them, but what of exhibition? While we have drifted under this log what of dissemination? What of the way of doing and communicating art that we got so used to in the academy days in Newcastle when Doing was but half the task and exhibiting the other? Well, put simply that is all over for us and to really talk of it is yet another can of worms that is better left unopened but we can say that we make make make and write write write and nobody knows about it because we haven't shown anything beyond the two publications that we silently placed on The Amazon shelf. Will we exhibit? What are we waiting for? There are couple of imaginary answers that spring to mind; we could be waiting to be 'discovered'? Waiting to go viral? Biding time until we are ready? Or are we simply not interested in communication? Are we scared of failure, of criticism? Are we holding out for retrospective success, or are we under the spell of the most deluded of delusions; posthumous fame? Well whatever the answer for us the key factor is time. We only have time to do the things we do and nothing more. Or rather to embark on an exhibition or some self publicising campaign would mean that the work would need to stop and as we have discovered, an exhibition or two is not worth it, so we chose to work on wretchedly. Now, if we had a great deal more time then that would be different and attempts would be made to exhibit, not just paintings generally, but to go for the big show of an entire project, the TAS, our first DS season, or even the video series. Only those would be worth it. Selling oils locally has a ceiling which we bumped our head on and in any case I rather need to keep the DS works together anyway.
Offering ourselves to an actual painting gallery solely on the strength of the paintings is not a goer either; we're too derivative, too old fashioned, too rough or plain not good enough. In fact we have edged ourselves into a position in which our work is an unattractive prospect across the board because it is not a goer for a contemporary gallery either. The work should be in a contemporary gallery but it is very unlikely that a gallery would risk their reputation showing the plein air paintings and political art positioning and postulations of a completely unknown and unvouched-for artist, especially as our exhibition would need to be of all the work, at least 40 paintings. So we work on quietly. But look here, are not the conventions, habits and pressures to exhibit a recent phenomenon, stemming from a thousand and one art schools and the entrepreneurial spirit they instil? I'm not into it. New world, new ways. Lets work on best we can and then towards the end have a retrospective as best we can and that my little framing device, is that. You work, really work, for decades, then show what you have managed to come up with; the exhibitor would be content at having given it ones best shot and the public would in turn respect the effort and take seriously whatever proposition is offered if it is a genuine effort. If I saw an advert for someones lifes work then I'd like to think I would attend out of curiosity but respect also. Much more so than some strange contemporary art curated affair offered on some poster which usually combines an ambiguous, thesaurus gleaned title and a list of surnames! 'Scintilla', 'Exactitude', 'Contemporary futures'.
We must aim to exhibit I suppose. What are your thoughts?5 Is there some expectation to exhibit DS residency work? Have you exhibited others? The only exhibition that we are up to is the opening of the barn occasionally in order to perhaps skim off some money for more paint and a percentage to Dave.6 For this I rather think that autumn is best, when the buzz and business of summer is done with and the quietness of autumn begins to descend; that's the time to show some paintings. That said we are not there yet, we still have several weeks of the summer ahead of us so lets see what we can do with it.
The work today will need a bit more done to it but only in the studio I feel, to add some flowers and lights of the corn on both sides. As you know we dare not invent parts of a picture in the studio but certain touches, once the soul of the thing has been grasped, are permissible and in fact are essential. They are great learning exercises these post painting touch ups and are so partly because of the changed mood but also simply because time has passed, the task is clearer and it is possible to work cleaner. What I mean is that when working to the one rush method, wet on wet, there is a momentum that gathers and a order of sorts to the process roughly based on the 'general to specific' logic. The work begins with thin, sketchy washes, then larger areas bashed in, then a 'read' or a 'movement' through or around the composition is decided on and graphically emphasised in some rough but clear marks. Then the thicker colour is used giving weight to the sections of land, sky, treeline, house. Then we work on fixing and rescuing until hopefully we stop shy of a spoiling, meaning before we have killed what we have done or before we have reworked excitedly to the point where everything is too similar and mid-range. Then the final stage is to apply the smallest marks that nevertheless have great impact, but it is exactly at this point in the process when the smallest most intricate touches are needed that we are least in the frame of mind to execute them. All this is too schematic really but the way it worked out today may be the ideal; to grasp the architecture and character of a scene and bring it home before it gets murked. Then some touches with a clean brush and calm hand and on to another.
You know all this is another reminder of the most consistent, recurring, state in our little 'go' at painting whereby we must relearn lessons first learnt long, long ago. It seems it is not enough to 'know' what to 'do', it is rather a 'knowing' that you have to 'do'.
Anyway,
John
1 In 2018 John put on 9 exhibitions which failed due to lack of sales, resulting in the change of direction that led John to embark on his first Dignity Scholarship residency.
2 See The Wretched Painter on vimeo.
3 English saying 'give up the ghost' refers originally to death/dying and the soul departing the body but has evolved to refer to stopping or abandoning doing something that you know will not suceed. There is no record of 'Keep up the ghost'.
4 Refers to One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
5 Their is no pressure to exhibit. The only requirement of the Dignity Scholarship is for a resident to Do 'something' and tell us about it.
6 According to their arrangement Dave has the right to 25% of every work sold until the loan is repaid.