I was reflecting today on the extent to which painting can be a very isolated experience. The occasion was a session on the internet in which I was investigating a possibility that I might take part in a virtual exhibition. (These are becoming an increasingly common part of the art scene, and I’m signed up to take part in one for the first time at the end of this month.) My problem is how to work out in the imagination what the principle of selecting my work might be. I have probably eliminated the possibility of showing work in pastel, because whereas a conventional gallery would expect that a purchaser would collect a piece they had bought at the end of the exhibition, I expect that with a virtual exhibition the exhibitor will be responsible for getting work to a purchaser using a courier. Pastels don’t travel well, and in any case there is always a problem with anything framed behind glass.* Even given that self-imposed constraint, however, I feel that my contribution to any such exhibition ought to have a sense of unity, or as it is often expressed, that it should constitute “a body of work.”
At things stand I’ve reduced the possibilities to perhaps two themes, and as things stand I am really not sure what might break the tie. The problem is, of course, that it is difficult to find anyone with whom I can discuss the problem. My wife is an excellent source of comment on my work, but I think that there are aspects of the situation that might benefit from an input by fellow artists. There are networks in which I am involved locally, but for some reason they don’t seem to work very well in this respect. The Unit 9 group to which I belong, for example, is valuable as a means of ensuring regular local opportunities for exhibition, but we don’t work very well when it comes to supplying the kind of support, and trustworthy criticism of one’s work, that I feel I need.
Perhaps I need to lay the problem explicitly before artistic colleagues and friends, compare notes, and see if it is possible to begin to develop the kind of network I have in mind. I shouldn’t just sit in a state of isolation and moan about it, but actually take steps, however small at first, to put things right.
* A common trick is to frame exhibited pastels behind perspex, but the purchaser then has to bear the extra cost of replacing the plastic with glass, which is a deterrent. In order to avoid these problems I have taken the responsibility in the past of delivering my work in person. A high-class gallery selling an expensive piece will bear the cost of delivery as a part of their rather large commission.