Today we have attached three studies of Norrtälje which are clearly a departure from what we have thus far produced this season. Indeed we have refrained from any townscape view ever since our failed commercial season in 2018, which finally collapsed just as we embarked on our first season of the Dignity Scholarship but let me say straight away that this does not represent a change of direction; we are not saddling up for another crack at the punters just yet. We have however, decided to open the doors to the barn gallery in September, just for two hours on a Sunday to give some of our pre DS works an airing and on that basis it seemed like a good idea to knock off a couple in the town.
As you well know the appearance of a plein air painter in Norrtälje is a rare thing, in fact I have never seen another, and the last time we did a stint in the winter of 2018 we attracted so much attention that a journalist wanted an interview and before we knew it we were starring at ourselves from the pages of Norrtälje Tidning. Our decision to head back out into the fray was therefore partly based on the idea that our presence would in itself help advertise the opening, but it did feel rather good to paint the town again and I began to get that feeling, which I believe to be correct, that a sustained campaign of town views would achieve sales eventually. That feeling however we have had before and it took us down a dead end road. Why? Because the commercialisation of the Doing was too much to bear. "But you have to eat", cries the invisible man and how right he is but look here, what is the good of that base logic if you end up spirit crushed and flattened; nut house food don't taste good. So we struggle on in the in-between and now with the experience of the commercial doing, and of the opposite, we can say that the in-between is no bad place, and furthermore I feel in order to satisfy the "you have to eat" logic it would be better to work a shift and paint on in the down time than feel the cast iron walls of business close in on ones Doing. All that said we may have hit on an idea to help balance autonomous Doing and the odd sneaky earner without commercial logic spoiling time at the easel; window display. As we took the short route down Kyrkogaten to get down to the river for our first tree study we noticed the Roslagen Spa Bank window display spaces which happened to contain a display of goods from the Sport Ringen outlet. A few footballs, some tennis rackets, ice hockey bits and a branded flag were visible and made available for viewing behind the glass.
We stopped and looked then walked on and in doing so the basic idea that we had just experienced a very simple, pure, egalitarian form of spectatorship hit us and it felt rather good to boot, even if we just looked at balls. Now I know full well that this topic could lead us right off if we're not careful, a can of worms in Pandora's box, but put simply there is always some delicate moods, feelings and barriers floating around when it comes to an "art" exhibition that effect both the experience of the work and which determine who feels like they can participate. This set of issues is of huge importance in the considered attempt at public exhibition. At least that is what one must become aware of in the art schools and indeed one of the most important critical art movements of the past 50 years, institutional critique, is the location where the full intricacies and implications of exhibition can be studied and while the concept of the window display warrants some investigation, we have only our own practical requirements in mind here.
For us the issues are first and foremost commercial in that our prices, although modest in some respects, are still high enough to count out the impulse purchase. Indeed almost every canvas we have sold has only been sold only after second or even third viewings of the painting, an essential passage of time it seems in order for the buyer to feel sure that it is really what they want but also that it fits on a wall somewhere. On occasion I have even let people take an oil home to try it out round the house before purchase. The type of short, self organised exhibition that is the norm in Norrtälje does not really allow for these considerations at all, a window display on the other hand which can be freely accessed all the time would certainly allow for adequate time to look and ponder. This question of time spent in front of the work is a second problematic issue of exhibition for us because quite frankly it is difficult to create a situation where a viewer might feel comfortable enough to really linger around and look due to the all too personal nature of the interaction. By this I mean that the artist (us) is often sitting there in the gallery and this makes for the already tense atmosphere of the Swedish air a little more so and thereby tainting the experience and making it impossible just to look. Again the context of the window display removes this problem as we will be present only in the form of a web address or business card although admittedly viewing through glass and at a remove is not ideal but at least one can look unmolested. Another issue is who is it that is likely to view an exhibition. This question differs depending on the work of course and in the past my efforts with the Open Council and a few other works were displayed in the spirit of ideas, of experimentation, social comment and if we may be so bold, critique, so on that basis a broad public attendance was the ideal goal and efforts were made to ensure that an exhibition was accessible.
But that was then, in what seems like the piece 'a' cake landscape of critical art against the beast of capitalism and to go into what has changed since then, even if that is one of our express themes, is to lift the wormbox lid once more, so we will just state the simple fact that our painting shows are not about 'ideas' (the idea is painting),1 all comers are very welcome to look and of course we are hoping for a few sales. But let me add also that it seems like a very worthwhile endeavour these days if an exhibition merely allows people to spend some precious time Doing nothing for a bit.
So all in all I feel the window display is a promising idea but it is of course obviously dependent on cost. Ideally we would find a permanent window at equivalent cost of say studio rental where our townscapes and nature studies could be on display and changed regularly to hopefully create a loyal but completely anonymous and untraceable audience. You walk past and..."oh there's a different one, I know where that is..." That's it. And the very few people who would ever consider buying a painting would be sure to cotton on and one day the phone will ring and on the occasion that a real exhibition may be mounted in the town the window display may have seen to it that more people come. And I feel it is worthwhile despite said window being owned by and part of a bank. I don't feel that pinch so much any more and besides this is all such small beer anyway.
So enquires will be made and perhaps you may know something about it, in any case we have taken three studies in the town and while doing have talked to many folk and relieved ourselves of many flyers so we shall see who turns up. The paintings by the way are firstly the large wheeping ash opposite to old masons lodge, seen from the patch of grass known I believe as Gustafs Treg[rd. Due to the size, a ten, it was always going to be a one session affair and it took in all about ninety minutes, during which we flicked and gestured away with no great thought. The second was a bit more considered and was inspired by the Van Gogh Paris views. There are only two places where one can gain a high enough vantage point for this kind of view, from Bergstugan and from atop the tunnel on the 76 where I stood for a low horizon, rooftop view. In fact, while I have been up there I had never had a proper look and there is indeed dozens of possible views for good, vigorous painting that really should be explored. The third work is again from on the tunnel and takes a similar rooftop view but with a higher horizon.
The rest of our week has been spent getting the gallery in order and having a break from thinking too much because as I said previously I feel like it is becoming difficult to remain engaged. What can we say with regards to our wider themes and this year of years for the world? The fighters are in the ring, the bell has been rung and they're going at it, do we really need to watch? Not being an American we have no horse in the race but nonetheless we have nailed our colours to the mast of the Poor Peoples Campaign not just for their anticapitalist rooted thinking but also because of their non partisan stance which does so much to whip away the veil of left vs right tribal politics to reveal the anti democratic billionaires hiding behind it. So let us have a bit of time off and open the doors to some real people and take it from there.
The exhibition will be open every Sunday afternoon in September from 14:00 - 16:00 and you are very welcome to send somebody.
Bests,
John
1 Attributed to the British artist and musician Billy Childish. See Torpoint Art Service, Work 10, note 11.