The most difficult aspect of the current pandemic, as far as I am concerned, is the fact that the idea of what might seem to be a reasonable objective is constantly retreating. At one time we are advised that by such-and-such a date it will be possible to (for example) eat in a restaurant, or take a holiday. As each of these milestones in our progress towards a hoped-for destination is approached the advice changes, and the objective recedes.
I remember that when we became aware of the seriousness of the danger presented by Covid-19 became apparent back in March, we were told that we would need to prepare for the serious curtailment of our freedoms until June. By May the Promised Land was to be entered in July. Foreign holidays were back on the list of possible activities by the end of May, and now at the end of July they are seriously to be discouraged. Already recent prognostications that we should be prepared to live under a regime of restriction until November now look to have been utopian.
Of course, everybody is adversely affected by this constant movement of the goal-posts. There are specific aspects of the problem that affect artists. The closure of major exhibition venues (and their subsequent partial opening) such as the Tate Gallery has been noted in the national news. The practicalities of the effect of gallery closure on ordinary “jobbing artists” hasn’t generally registered. Not to put too fine a point on it, if an exhibition of the work of Poussin or Pissarro is put on hold the impact on the artist is zero. For living artists, however, it looks rather different.
If I want to arrange for an exhibition then the negotiation for this needs to begin perhaps two years ahead of the expected date. None of the venues which I could reasonably approach, however, are in a position to discuss future commitments. It will probably be the case that their response to closure has been the postponement of commitments they have already made. Until when? Of course, they can have no clear idea. Shortly before the onset of the current pandemic I had made preliminary contact with several possible exhibitors. One has simply cancelled this year’s show. One has changed their plans in order to mount an on-line exhibition, although this is going ahead more slowly than the original scheme, and the announced date for the notification of the acceptance or rejection of work has already been postponed. Two other venues are simply not in a position to correspond about the possibility of exhibitions at all for the foreseeable future.
Of course, I’m not making any claim that artists are in a worse position than other people. In many respects it could be that we are fortunate. Next week, for example, the Unit 9 group in Bradford will be opening a new group show of Recent Work, and I will be taking part in that. I expect to have a slot for a solo exhibition in the same venue in November. So I have some encouragement to keep at it. Small local venues of this kind have a degree of flexibility not possessed by larger institutions, however, and there is a general sense among artists that our world is shrinking, without any prospect at the moment of a return to “normal”.