Terry Wogan at one time used to refer to “my other listener” (perhaps he still does). Regardless of the fact that he had an audience of millions he liked to create in a humorous way the illusion that he shared the programme with a couple of friends. In a rather different spirit the Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard habitually referred to “my reader”. In his case he was struck by the realisation that the way he thought and wrote about the world was so out of the normal for most of his contemporaries that there was probably only one person out there who really understood what he was on about.
The exhibition of my series Set Apart opened at Unit 9, in South Square, last night, and set me thinking as to whether my experience was closer to that of Terry Wogan or Soren Kierkegaard. I decided that it was probably the latter. Attendance at the event was sparse, as it always is when there isn’t an opening in the main gallery. Even so, I had the heartening experience of meeting “my” viewer. There was actually one person who came into the gallery, with whom I had a conversation, who quickly grasped what I am doing and who understood why.
I have to admit is was an unusual as well as a very gratifying experience. For a good part of the time I form a clear impression that most people (including people with an education in art) really have only the slightest idea how to look at my work. It is good to encounter an occasion when it becomes clear that this is not necessarily the case. For the time being I guess I’ll have to reconcile myself to an experience shared with Soren Kierkegaard, and I don’t suppose I will ever find myself closer to Terry Wogan! One lives in hope.