If you are an artist, you don’t have any common sense, right? That is a given. Yes, that is right. At least, in my case this is true. This week I, and some of my fellow MA students, have been installing work for a small exhibition for the general public in Wolverhampton. I am contributing my VR paintings, which as a series I’ve decided to call ‘The Nature of Things’ after the very influential book The Nature of Things by Lyall Watson.
Installation of artwork is the bit about being a real artist that I do not enjoy. It taps into a side of my skillset that I find is lagging behind others: the practical side. I don’t like planning and I don’t like measuring. I don’t like straight lines and I don’t like hammering. Despite the fact that project planning features rather largely in my work life, when it comes to real-life tangible objects, such as how to hang artwork, I struggle to plan. I wish I had someone to do it all for me, someone who knows one end of a hammer from another (the knobbly end, is the hitting bit, right?).
The title of this blog is ‘Why I love B&Q’ which might seem to contradict what I have just said. In my mind, it doesn’t. I love B&Q because it is an artist’s heaven to me. They sell (and cut) wood for me to paint on; paint by the bucket and in any colour I could wish for; big, sturdy brushes for those gloriously pleasurable larger projects; and anything you could need to display your work from glue, screws, tape measures, spirit levels and metal rulers. I love those bits and pieces. I love the feel of them. They complement my airy fairy arty farty side. They fulfil a need in me: a need for something solid and real. The thing is, I just don’t know what to do with them.
I haven’t finished installing my work yet because I stupidly bought glue with which to fix the hooks on the backs of each painting that takes 24-36 hours to dry. I rest my case.
The exhibition, ‘We Are Not Boxers’, a joint show by MA students including myself, opens on Friday at the Lighthouse, Wolverhampton (aka the old Chubb building – I have no idea why it is called the Lighthouse in the town that is about as far away from the sea as you can get but that’s another discussion).
Please do come along. If for nothing else to admire my hanging skills.