Exhibitions come down a lot quicker than they go up….
I recently spent an hour alone taking down a solo exhibition of my paintings at Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum. I had called the exhibition ‘Autofictions’ and although the actual exhibition had only been on for two weeks I have been on a much longer journey with planning and preparing it, and had felt a lot more stressed and anxious about it, than any other exhibition I can remember. I felt a little wrung out by it all.
I have had many solo exhibitions over the years, 25 now, in various galleries and venues. Some galleries I have applied to and been offered exhibitions, mainly in municipal council-run galleries and art centres, rather than commercial, and others in spaces I have sought out or which have been recommended, such as more recently Malvern Library, or artist run spaces, believing strongly in the ‘do it yourself’ ethos of exhibiting your work, rather than waiting for the so-called gate keepers to offer me a show. I’ve built up a strong exhibiting track record like this, but the reach of the exhibitions always seems to be the same: a gathering of much-loved family and friends at the private view followed by a steady, but rather thin, stream of visitors. Despite diligently sending many invites to curators and galleries and local press for each exhibition hoping they might be interested in visiting I have rarely heard back from anyone in these fields.
This time however, I decided to commission a curator and art historian, Ruth Millington, to help me promote the exhibition and write a press statement that could also be used for a write-up in the Birmingham Mail and Birmingham Post and other newspapers printed and online. I just wanted to explore and invest (Ruth doesn’t come for free) in some different strategies to help expand the exhibition’s reach, give it more ‘legs’, and stretch me by doing something something different.
Ruth has been forging a well-earned name for herself as the leading writer on art in the region and beyond with her weekly exhibition features in regional and national newspapers and online. She is an award-winning art historian and writer, curator and presenter (I’ve added a link at the end…). She also runs a ‘get gallery ready’ bootcamp course for artists each year, which I hear nothing but good things about from artist friends who have attended it, at Solihull College. So, when Ruth visited the studio, we had a good crit about the work I had up to that point selected for the exhibition and she persuaded me that some of the work wasn’t ‘ready’ i.e. good enough(!) and reflected and discussed what she thought were the best qualities in my paintings. She was very easy to talk to, but also firm, straight and forthright with her opinions. It was very useful and I enjoyed being kicked around a bit. Together we felt that the landscapes, which possessed a more poetic quality, were where my strengths were, rather than the portraits I had selected of delivery drivers and policemen in some of the selection. There was an encouraging ‘not yet’ about these pieces from Ruth, which I agreed with. Many of the paintings that I eventually decided on did, however contain figures but they were smaller representations of figures in relation to the surrounding landscapes, and I can now see that these work better and are more interesting. After the visit Ruth completed a great press statement, which I then used to help shape the revised and final selection of work.
with Ruth Millington at the PV (a great help)
Reading her words on the page about my work was very useful in helping me reflect on my work with a fresh perspective and consider what the strengths are, but I also found myself thinking more about the weaknesses, perhaps because of the ones I had rejected with Ruth. I find myself walking a fine line between the two much of the time and through the process of preparing this exhibition I have felt very aware of my shortcomings and how so many of the paintings just end up not being good enough. Most painters are never satisfied, that’s what keeps you going on, but this time it has felt more than that. I wonder if it’s an age thing. You get older and hope to be getting better as you demand more from your work, but at times I have felt much more aware of my own creative limitations and that maybe I have hit them. I want to be good, but I just think I’m quite good.
'Breathe', a recent very large painting
Most of the paintings I selected were completed in the last 3 years, but I also chose work from further back to 2016. These including some small lorries and a large painting of a transit depot which all sat well with a more recent dramatic painting of a truck stop at night. These older paintings were received positively and sat well with the newer work. It felt good to own these older ones again and present them to a newer audience. They are strong pieces and more unusual in their subject matter. As artists you tend to always look forward, not back- but despite them being older paintings they have still rarely been seen, and it felt right to try and present them to create a wider and more varied vision about my engagement with the landscape of the Midlands. Seeing these landscapes again, combined with the real interest they seemed to attract from visitors to the exhibition, made me want to dig in deeper and once again explore these post-industrial landscapes as I move forward. In the end the exhibition also had a nice day and night feel, with some of my recent scenes set in parks and canals hanging alongside the paintings inspired by my night walks.
artist friend, Janice Rider enjoying the exhibition (great photo!)
Despite my own doubts and anxieties about the exhibition, it was received well by all that visited, and I had a lot of visitors to the Private View. I also sold a couple of paintings. There was also lots of press coverage online and in the regional press thanks to Ruth’s contacts and press statement. Other opportunities have opened up too, but I’m not able to say any more about these as yet. More than any recent exhibition though, it felt like it was a time to pause and reflect on what I have been doing. I left the gallery with my paintings alone that afternoon, excitedly unsure about what’s next?
https://ruthmillington.co.uk/shaun-morris/
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