Being reacquainted
Blogging. Something i didn't think i would do.
I'm not a very good writer, my grammer is terrible, my spelling is not much better, and i tend to waffle. Although writting my thoughts down is someting which is becoming increasingly essential to my artistic development/ creativity, call it what you will, and i feel that pull to do it, the same pull i feel to make work.
Today i took down some work i had in a little pub full of characteristics in the centre of swindon. It was a strange sensation taking my work down. I didnt feel put off by that fact that i had only sold one piece (as the landlord kindly reminded me) or the fact that i was taking everything home with me again, and wondering where i would put it. I think what was strange about today was that i felt like these pieces of work had to be squirreled away back to my studio. Like a long lost friend that i hadn't seen in many many years. It was like pieces of my heart, mind, soul had been on display and finally i was getting them back. I know this seems a strange way to think about it as all the works were for sale, but im glad i have them to ponder over and to help me think.
The little pub in which my work had been displayed for the last 4 months was called The Glue Pot. I couldnt tell you why its called that, or much about the pubs history or social status. What i can tell you is my experience of exhibiting my work there. The Landlord is one of the most fasinating men i've met. Perhaps not fasinatimg in the usual way, if there is an usual way, but in the sense that he just exuded creativity and character. From the way he dresses and the funky hats he wore,his name which is just his initials, JC. To the way in which he talks about art with real passion, and about having work displayed on his walls and how that will affect the atmosphere of the pub.
The little pub is quite a dark old style pub, which smells of old stale bear with a faint whiff of the mens loos seaping in somewhere, but underneath all this there is a strange sense of magic. It almost feels as though you are stepping back into those days of the railway workers and their daily pint, for which swindon is so famously remembered for. I think for me the pub bought back lots of memories from my childhood, the smells, the tables, the lighting. Usually i try to avoid stimuli for unpleasent memories, but this experienece didnt bring back unpleasent memories for me. There was a real sense of love for the pub, and indeed JC's job. I think because of this i only focused on the art and getting it on/off the walls. Perhaps i chose not to see the neagtives i usual feel. Perhaps i was so focused on the task i could'nt see. Or perhaps it simply wasnt there....
The work i have put with this entry is called standing alone, and is one of the pieces i bougt home with me. The series of work this belongs to solidifies all my negative thoughts and feelings from my past, and it is only now that i am making the link to why i put the pieces i did for display at the pub. I do really like this piece in terms of aesthetics, but in terms of subject im now unsure.
