On my return to Bradford I have had the opportunity to browse through the comment book which I put out to accompany my “Green Man” exhibition in Lincoln Cathedral. I always find this an interesting experience.
The first thing that one has to do is to set aside the remarks which suggest that the writer really has no idea about the purpose of the request to leave a comment. These are usually (but not entirely) from foreign visitors. “What a beautiful Cathedral!” is not much help to me in assessing response to my pictures. “Greetings from Canada” are nice to have, but read like an attempt to change the subject.
The comments which I find the most curious are those which appear to be triggered by my having touched on a spot about which the writer is clearly sensitive. The apparently rather dogmatic Christian, who is clearly offended by my sneaky attempts to dilute the Christian message by smuggling in”paganism” (whatever that is), is a case in point. All of the signage accompanying the exhibition points expressly to its Christian context and intentions, and the strapline of my publicity was “contemporary Christian responses to an ancient image”. I could only be wryly amused by the feminist who asked, “Where are the women?” presumably triggered by a rather unreflective response to the phrase the “Green Man“. There were, in fact, several images of women in the exhibition, including one for which my wife modelled. It seems, however, that some people hear what they expect to hear, and see what they expect to see.
There were, however, generous and reflective comments also, which indicated that my work had received the kind of welcome for which I had hoped. Despite the hit-and-miss quality of some aspects of the feed-back process I always find that it is instructive, broadly encouraging, and worth my effort in soliciting it. I certainly find it strange when artists put their work on display but leave only one possible response, namely, purchase. Is that really the only reason we are artists?