We drove over to Lincoln today, to visit the Cathedral, where I am too present an exhibition of my work in July. The staff were very welcoming, and it is great to have the event in mind as a concrete planning objective now instead of just a notional date on a calendar. I have to confess, however, that the experience was a bit of a shock to the system.
I have exhibited there on a previous occasion, many years ago, and I had forgotten just how large is the Chapter House, where my work will be shown. It is immense! The series I intend to show there has twelve images, and none of these is on a very large scale. Looking at the context in which they are to be shown I began to feel that it will be necessary to put together something with a greater sense of “presence”. The theme of the exhibition will be based upon the ancient folk image of “The Green Man”, and it struck me that I have several other pieces which do deal very directly with the Creation stories, and in particular with the place of humanity within the natural order, and that these might provide the “fortification” I need. I’ve written to the organiser with this suggestion and it will be interesting to receive her response.
As it happens, as my wife drove us back from Lincoln I fell to thinking about the project and I have been wondering if I might be able to develop a couple of other ideas within this general territory with which I have been playing in a tentative way. I did think that, after my manic period of exhibiting during April, I might be able to take it easy for the next few weeks, but it doesn’t look as if that it going to be possible. As my old grandmother used to say: “There is no rest for the wicked”.