Rough sketches for exhibition, audience and archiving.

Preparing for the interim show at NUA has made me think about how painting is able to communicate its underlying message and content to an audience and how this message may often be lost in translation or open to interpretation, depending upon who the audience is, who the work was created for or the context in which it is being shown. Similarly how is work relating to an artist's career preserved in order to keep a record of their underlying processes and ideas for future generations?

In the same way that a writer may take a series of ideas and weave them together into a novel, a painter attempts to bring together often disparate, unrelated concepts within a painting that if successful accurately reflects the artist's intentions. Below is a diagram that I have drawn up representing some of my main research interests which I hope are encompassed within my recent tondo pieces:

A diagram indicating some of my main research interests within my recent practice

For this series of ideas to be formed into a finished, coherent art piece, they will be filtered through my own knowledge of art and reflections on the world and processes that are happening, or have happened in it directly relating to my practice. For example my interest in the sublime may in part be influenced by the work of Caspar David Friedrich, otherness to the writing of Michael Foucault, place to Lucy Lippard and the process of walking to the writings of W G Sebald all of which I am attempting to combine and synthesize under and within the umbrella that constitutes my practice.

Sketch of hypothetical exhibition space, with two tondo discs on opposing walls

Once taken out of the context of the artist's studio and placed within a gallery context how does this alter the original message and ideas which underpin the work? If the work is dealing with complex and unrelated themes then it is possible that this interpretation will be down to the viewer who may be able to place a particular aesthetic value onto the work. However when it comes to an interpretation of the artist's underlying meanings and intentions this may not be such a straightforward process. The viewer inevitably will attempt to place their own cultural bias, value and worldview on to the art piece which is more than likely to be different to those of the artist who created it. This therefore prompts a further consideration of who is the audience for the work?

'Different kinds of audience theories emerge which are given various distinctions. First an audience might figure as the relatum of some real relation in which the work of art stands, or an audience might figure as the object of the artist's intentions. second the relation to an audience might be an actual or dispositional relation. Third different features of an audience might be important: perceptual experience, understanding pleasure, or emotion. Fourth different audiences might be in question: the audience might be some select group such as the 'artworld' or it might be the whole of humanity.' Nick Zangwill, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 57, No. 3, 1999 
  
As a way of providing information about an exhibition there will often be some form of platform to introduce key themes whether it is an artist's statement, an exhibition title, a press release or a manifesto imparting the collective rationale behind the exhibition. Depending on the way these are structured and written they should provide a much clearer summary of the intentions behind the work and act as a signpost in order to illuminate the artist's ideas and intentions.

In 2009 the artist Edward Chell chose to exhibit his paintings in four Little Chef restaurants in Kent. The work he chose to exhibit was inspired by a summer drive down the M2, which he described as taking him back to childhood memories of country lanes, or a lost idyll. In choosing to exhibit the work outside of a traditional gallery context Chell explained his reasoning in relation to his audience as follows:

'For me these present a fascinating paradox - the motorway network presents a nightmarish vision of the asphalting of our green and pleasant land, but these roadside habitats also amount to an unofficial national nature reserve. I want people to see them on their way to and from their cars and catch a glimpse, a fleeting vision of these places they might never have noticed, but which surround them on their motorway journeys.'  The Guardian, Are audiences killing art and culture? Sarah Kent, 2009.

Edward Chell, The Garden of England, Little Chef Tour, Oil on Shellac on Paper, 2009

Edward Chell, sitting in front of one of his paintings in a Little Chef in Kent, 2009

I appreciate the fact that Chell has chosen to show his paintings outside of the context of a 'conventional' gallery space. The audience would be vastly different however the choice of the Little Chef restaurant bears a strong resonance to the places depicted within the work, whilst the message he is attempting to convey would have a strong bearing on the audience frequenting the Little Chef restaurants.

Sketch of hypothetical exhibition space, featuring a series of smaller tondos orbiting around a central larger tondo.


Ideas relating to audience will be affected by the context in which the work is displayed, in turn affecting the manner in which it is interpreted. If the work is displayed as part of a group show of paintings, themed around place then this will be the main focus of interpretation for the viewer. If it was included in a mixed show made up of painting, sculpture and printmaking relating to ideas around nature and the sublime then the interpretation would change again. None of this takes into consideration when the artwork is exhibited be it 10, 50 or 100 years after its creation, placing a significant bearing again on its interpretation due to the changing values and thought processes of that period. 

  

Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God, 2007 consists of a platinum cast of an 18th-century human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds. The work was placed on its inaugural display at the White Cube gallery in London in an exhibition entitled Beyond belief with an asking price of £50 million. At the time this was the highest price ever asked for a single work by a living artist. This would be a significant factor in attracting an audience and although when Hirst created the piece he intended it to be a 'Memento mori' or reminder of the mortality of the viewer, it is likely that the media frenzy surrounding the large asking price would be the main calling card in terms of attracting an audience. 

Damien Hirst, For the Love of God, 2007, Mixed Media, platinum, diamond, human teeth

Sketch of hypothetical exhibition space, featuring two opposing circular paintings encompassed within a square format.

I would like to take some time to consider what happens during and after an exhibition in terms of archiving the work. As a painter and 2-dimensional artist I choose to document images of my finished work via a website using photographs of individual pieces. This may include documenting work whilst it is in progress and critically reflecting on it via an artist’s blog or sharing it on social media platforms such as facebook and twitter. 

However works of art can reach beyond the time and the geographic place of their creation, as a way of preserving information. An archive may contain physical works of art, digital documentation, evidence of artistic practice or records tracing accomplishments, hurdles and other facets of an artist’s life including, letters, diaries, speeches, sketchbooks, business records, press coverage, catalogues, photographs, audio or video recordings, oral history transcripts, and other materials. These are all ways to preserve primary source material for researchers for years to come.

Archives are often connected to libraries, universities, historical societies and museums. Archives today may contain both material (physical) and digital records. Digital-only archives are emerging as an important way to preserve the legacy of many visual artists, especially those whose careers have not included significant exposure in traditional museum venues. In some cases as well as the  addition of digital images of they may contain, original works of art. The defining criteria relate to the mission and purpose of that particular archive.

Postcard with artist's statement for the interim exhibition at NUA