15 seconds of fame

The Australian Museum, Sydney, Thursday 20 Jan 06:38:20 local time.

My name in lights, courtesy John Baldessari.

Anonymous collaborator

This is the end. Or maybe just the start...

4 Red Lion Lane, original home of the Exeter Studios Project, has finally been demolished. I feel an unexpected sense of release and suddenly want to look forward rather than back. If there are any Actual Working Artists out there in Devon who would like to try again, I'd be delighted to hear from them. I still have the urge to do this properly, despite my bad experiences first time around. 

By properly, I mean a fit-for-purpose, below-commercial-rate workspace for professional artists and makers, incorporating shared resources such as an effectively  programmed project/gallery space. This is about more than renting a building with some mates - I'd like to see a project that has some momentum and ambition. The group should be capable of maintaining grown-up partnerships with other organisations and managing its business in a fair, legal and transparent fashion.

The project doesn't have to be huge, but it does need to be ready to contribute something concrete and credible to the wider arts ecology.

It happens in other cities - why can't it happen here?

http://gabriellehoad.blogspot.com/2010/12/dream-not-quite-in-ruins.html 

Background on the original Exeter Studios Project from an archived website:
http://www.artapart.co.uk/exstud/ourstory.html 

My 2007-2008 blog about the development of the original Exeter Studios Project, as it happened:
http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385324/0/1/asc

A history lesson in print

Went to the opening of 'Politics in Print' at Exeter Phoenix Galleries last night. The exhibition is the result of a commission by Double Elephant Print Workshop, which invited artists to respond to the archive at the Devon Record Office. Although I didn't apply for the commission myself, I was excited to see it happening. Support for professional artists to make challenging work is all too rare in Exeter.

It was a tough brief:  it must have been hard to know where to start when faced with the Devon Record Office's vast archive. For some artists there was the additional challenge of mastering printmaking itself, albeit with the expert support of Double Elephant.

Although the exhibition contained a significant quantity of collaged/reworked archive material (with lengthy history lessons attached), some of the work offered a more digested and contemporary view. Steven Paige's redacted texts were particularly of the moment. With their focus on secrecy, censorship and reconstructed truth, they seem a perfect complement to the Wikileaks news story.

The exhibition includes seven artists in total:  Lucy Brett, Volkhardt Müller, Steven Paige, Gary Powell, Jonathan Velardi, Catherine Cartwright and Nicci Wonnacott.

Until 30th January. Exeter Phoenix Galleries, Gandy Street, Exeter EX4 3LS

http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/galleries/?page=1

John Baldessari and me

John Baldessari  "Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell," 1966-68

John Baldessari is using my name (along with those of 99,999 other people) as part of his work Your Name in Lights for the Sydney Festival.

I feel compelled to note this event as it's the only chance I'll ever get to mention his name in the same sentence as mine. I'm due to appear at 19:38:20 GMT Wednesday January 19, 2011 emblazoned across the Australian Museum’s William Street façade.

Your Name in Lights reflects the changing cult of celebrity in modern society and draws on imagery from Broadway theatre displays and Hollywood films.

http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2011/Visual-Arts/John-Baldessari-Your-Name-in-Lights/

http://www.baldessari.org

 

Next exhibition - January 2011

'Bridging the Gap'
21 January - 30 January 2011
Hatch Space, 8-12  Creekside, Deptford  SE8 3DX

Zachary Eastwood-Bloom |  Joseph Gower | Gabrielle Hoad |
Jochen Klein | Thomas Smith | Rupert White

Curated by Rachel Price

http://www.hatchspace.co.uk/#/home/4546272397

The dream (not quite) in ruins

It's tempting to see the demolition of 4 Red Lion Lane (pictured) as somewhat symbolic. After all, I spent two years (2006-2008) working very very hard as a founder of the Exeter Studios Project to get shared workspace up and running in this semi-derelict building. And I now have nothing to show for it. Or do I?

Having secured the building in September 2007, we had it fully let to around 30 artists and makers in a matter of weeks, with an official opening in November 2007.  It's true I didn't get to benefit from the studio space for long (I left after my fellow directors repeatedly insisted that things such as health & safety and company law didn't apply to us and our 4000sq ft workspace because we were "only artists"). But the legacy is still there - in the shape of EVA Studios, which grew out of the original project.

Now based in a shared building on the city outskirts, the project has strayed a long way from its original vision, but there is at least ongoing large-scale studio provision in Exeter. It was a tough getting there and even tougher having to walk away.  But I'm hugely proud to have made it happen.