Curators are just people too, and by people I mean...

I've been going to a lot of exhibitions lately and it's been a lot of fun since I never used to do that much before I came to England. I've gained a bit of interest in curation and I think my essay this semester will be about 'critical curation', even though I missed that lecture. I mised it for a good reason though. Yeah, partying in Norway ;)

Thinking more about curation and all the things it entails and all the things it is tied up in pisses me off a bit, I must admit. It's a lot like all other things in life, you start of thinking that if you just work really hard and make something good then somehow it will be picked up on and you'll get your work out there. But alas, the gallery is not an abstract all knowing entity that just senses your greatness and sends you a nice letter about how it would be delighted to give you an opportunity. First of all you have to do all the hard work yourself getting to know who to talk to and how to talk to them and all that smuck, and then after all that, no matter how good you are there is going to be one person or a group of them sitting there looking at your work discussing whether they think it will be relevant to society and the art world and their personal philosophy in two years time when they have their next vacant spot on the schedule.

And now I'm not even mentioning politics and inside dealins. And yeah, even if you get into the gallery they'll probably place it all stupid and right next to something you wouldn't even poke with a stick.

So when I saw this video couple of days ago it got me thinking about other possibilities.

oh the shame

From where I'm sitting now the whole video blogging idea seems horrible and embarrasing. I might give it another go, but then I'll have a script and cut away the pauses if they get too long... ahrg X(

Smalish print tutorial with Phil

Since The yellow apron workshop clashes with the print workshop and I was really eager to try something with print I signed up for a half hour with Phil at the prints today.
Just being in the workshop made me realise how little I know about the process. I mean, I just have a loose idea of what I want out of the end product, but to get there might be more complex than I though it would be. Not to worry though, I like complex things.

Phil showed me around and we mostly talked about the first step, namely choosing printing surface and how to cut it. For the small scale thing I'm thinking of first, the wolf head, I figured linoleum or wood would be best. I don't know why I thought wood would be the simplest process, I guess I thought of it as the most primitive material, but as it is, is it also the hardest and contains more texture than the other.

I was lucky enough to get a smalish piece of linoleum for free to experiment with. So now I'm going to play around with the wolf head and ankh design and see what I end up with before I go back and start cutting.

Sadly the cutting material is a bit scarce because some inconsiderate people borrow without returning. I might have to buy my own in time if this really turn out to be something I'd do more of and I have a feeling it is. The opportunity to mass produce a simple design and then tweak and individualise it really appeals to me as I'd really like to create affordable pieces for people like myself. I mean, even if you're relatively poor and maybe especially then it would be nice to get something unique at a decent price. And I don't particularly like rich people in the first place. Plus, I have to eat and live, and have reasonable work hours.