Let's Start The Show

I try very hard to avoid using the word busy as much as possible, especially when its not true. People often push it on you just by way of small talk about how you are, and how work is going: “are you busy?” they’ll ask. Saying you’re not busy has become akin to admitting you’re destitute, a failure even. But rather than giving a genuine response by saying I have enough work to pay the bills but actually still have time to fuck around on a Tuesday afternoon I’ll usually just nod and say “yeh, pretty busy.”

Busy has become the baseline level of activity rather than the extreme that its supposed to describe. I’m convinced that this feeling of business is mostly in people’s heads. This feeling is the result of spending 80% plus of our waking hours mainlining phone and laptop screens; looping around the same websites, apps and message threads until the illusions of business is felt.

But right now I am actually busy. I can’t even fuck around on a Tuesday afternoon if I want to, which is a shame. I’ve got a solo show looming on the horizon, now less than four weeks away from opening on the 30th of October.

Every other solo show I’ve done like this has left me frazzled by the end. Its a lot of work physically, mentally and emotionally to pull something like this off as an independent artist.

So this time I wanted things to be different. The plan was to give myself plenty of time to get the artwork done well ahead of the opening so that in the final few weeks I could switch cleanly from artist to promoter and start selling the show as a the extravaganza that its going to be.

By the end of Summer this plan was going swimmingly, but arriving like an Exocet missile out of the blue came a massive commission. One that I would have been stupid to turn down from both a financial and professional perspective. And of course it needs to be delivered in early November.

So now I must conjure up pure flow all day every day in the studio to meet the demands of both the solo show work and the commission’s many communications and creative tasks. Last week my phone battery lasted for four days like I’m some sort of off-grid hermit. This is what being busy actually looks like: having so much to do that you don’t have time to create the feeling of busy with your screen addiction.

What I found myself freaking out about not having the time to do was create promotional reels and content for the show on Instagram. Then I had an epiphany: fuck instagram. I’ve had that realisation before and so has everyone else, many times over no doubt. This time it made decide that I wouldn’t put my faith in the algorithm to deliver news of my exhibition.

Instead I’m going with good old fashioned reality and giving people something they can hold in their hands and actually feel. I’ve decided to send out physical invitations delivered by post. As soon as I set out on this course of promotional strategy the freak out lifted and ideas for my invites started to flow. Even though this promo plan is more work, and certainly more expensive, than just posting a reel or two I feel like I can trust it. Who doesn’t want to receive a nice little invitation card in the post? Even if the receiver can’t make it, or can’t be arsed at least they’ll feel wanted and at least they’ll have gotten an impression of the work from the invite itself.

So here they are, six different characters from my Dance of Death series are on the front and on the back a lightly sinister yet formal piece of informative text about the show. I’ve gone with pink envelopes and I had a custom butterfly stamp made to add a little extra touch to each missive. If you’ve bought a few things from me over the years then one of these is already on its way to you. But I want you to feel wanted too, so if you’d like your own please invite reply this email with your postal address or send me a message separately and I’ll get one in the post (UK only).

Even though designing, ordering, addressing and posting these invite has only added to my current level of busy its actually made me feel much better. And I think it will make the people who receive them feel better as well. In a world where we all spend far too much time in the digital soup of online life I hope delivering something in reality will really cut through the noise of your day.

Now I need go back to getting eighteen original artworks, two screen print editions, two football shirts and a scarf ready for my invitees to enjoy come the 30th of October. Let’s just hope the big commission throw no extra spanners in the works…

The show opens on the 30th but if you can’t make the opening night or that kind of event gives you the heebie-jeebies then the show is on all weekend until the evening of the 2nd of November. In fact, I think the work will probably reward a calmer viewing.

Exhibition Info

Lets close with a little sneak peak at those two new screen print editions which will launch in next week’s newsletter on October 9th, setting the tone for a Goth Girl Autumn to come.