Saturday, May 14, 2011

The problem with making something you actually like...

I have been trying to 'get over' the idea of spending money showing work 'large' in Perth and instead focusing on getting stuff out through more economical - for want of a better word - channels. It's not so much 'where' but 'what' and 'how'. I've been struggling with the realisation that I'm spending thousands trying to get a handful of people here to look at my work.

I can't drag the mysterious few (MF) to shows so you have to wonder if the 2-3 week window is really the best way to get stuff in front of them. Even then, the lack of any response to various approaches makes me wonder if it's perhaps not worth the effort at all in whatever form the 'presentation' takes.

I shouldn't be bitter about it or take it personally but it does prove a bit problematic when you make something you actually like and feel people 'should' see it.

I recently enlarged two new images (shot in mid-January and early February) to full size. This as my latest attempt to raise funds for an important 'adventure' that has tormented me for a few years now. Only through that process did I realise that one of the images is something I genuinely like rather than simply found appealing.

It's odd that at 800px x 600px I find it quite harmless, yet at 800mm x 640mm it becomes a completely different, luminous creature.

A month or two ago, I received an informal invite to show that image together with a suite of other works in Fremantle. I'm hesitant to commit to another show with it's associated expenses, especially given my track record here. Ultimately after a 2-3 week show, it will be packed up and buried in the plan draw with a huge quantity of work from the last few years.

Whilst it's only plastic and paper, it still feels like a huge waste of energy on multiple levels.

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