June
29th
It
was with much anticipation that I walked up Exhibition Road at 6.30 am on
Tuesday this week to join ‘the queue’ to see Marina Abramovic at The
Serpentine. Much to my amusement I was
‘the queue’ for the first two hours. The time passed pleasantly watching the
park come slowly alive in the morning sun.
First
in to the Gallery that morning, I was greeted by Marina at the door. I entered
the quiet space and hesitantly joined in the performance, a tacit choreography
of silence, deep breathing, slow walking, meditation led by Marina Abramovic
and her small cohort of young assistants.
It
felt good to be part of something, a small historic happening …included…and yet
it also left me feeling profoundly insignificant and lonely…excluded…
Ahh
well the experience was however, extraordinary and despite leaving me with this
confusing mixture of emotions. And as I made my way back through the park I
felt naughty and rebellious after the constraints if conformity and stuffed
myself with the remains of my breakfast and kicked at the grass!
It
is a tricky thing when your happy little plans are suddenly upset and questioned
and turned upside down. My trusted and insightful friend and mentor came to the
Studio this week to have a little update on Stumps. She is always very
thoughtful and considered in the advice that she offers but often it is the
space between her words that leave the most profound impression.
Setting
the cat amongst the pigeons, however, has left me feeling unsettled and
uncertain (yet again)! I feel sure that
in the flapping new thoughts and another way forward will emerge but until then
I must hold myself still and not look in to the void.
.JPG) |
| marked |
What
treasures we are privileged to in tap into with charity shops and second hand bookshops.
A serendipitous find of a catalogue from a Barbican exhibition in 1988 led me
on a nice little research trip on the internet. A couple of the artists
featured in the exhibition have left few traces of their work made in the
intervening years. Several however seem to have continued a lively practice,
quietly developing thoughtful and challenging work apparently unconcerned that
their names have faded into obscurity and their art largely unsung.
...except
perhaps for the few who like myself have drawn heart from a glance back to
their heyday in 1988!
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| Barbican Catalogue 1988 |
The
first day of Summer and after such a wet week the promise of the longer
evenings and some sunnier days have opened a lighter space in my mind. And in
to this space creeps the longing again for drawing, the soft call of pencil on
paper. Its seductive appeal, something that I have written about before, is not
to be ignored. This week my easel will be gently dusted, my pencils sharpened
and lovely paper bought.
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| pencils |
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