Photo: Anthony Anex
I’ve built up quite a decent body of work now – enough for a one ‘me’ exhibition. Here is my dilemma: a gallery will want me to put a price on my works, but they are my babies and after all the loving care and bloody hard work that’s gone into bringing them to fruition, I don’t want to sell any of them. But I do want to show off my darlings to the world. It’s an ego thing. What to do?
Dear Clinger,
In this case, you shouldn’t do a show in a commercial gallery but rather display your artworks in a so-called ‘non-commercial’ space, such as a museum with contemporary exhibitions, or a public or private art space with no trading involved. It’s an unwritten law that these locations will want to select the artists themselves, so you must do self-organised exhibitions until one of them ‘discovers’ you and offers an exhibition.
Your question is confusing to me, however, and I wonder if you are wealthy? If so, just rent a space and organise the exhibition yourself. Or perhaps you are egoistic and a victim of the myth invented in the 1960s that art has nothing to do with commercial survival...
I’m stumped about what to get my new girlfriend for Christmas. She’s an artist and has impeccable taste. I’m pretty broke, like... £10 budget?
Dear Big Hearted,
Go to a pharmacy and buy yourself a very small, sealable glass container and a syringe with a thin needle. Take your own blood from a protruding vein and fill the container. Close it and add a handwritten love poem with a title such as ‘I give you all I have’ or ‘All my love and blood to you’.
I would love to apply for more artist opportunities, such as residencies and exhibitions abroad, but I feel restricted. My children are now grown up, but just when I was starting to think my time had come to put myself and my art career first, I find that my elderly mum needs me to care for her. Should I forget about ambition and just be a hobby artist?
Dear Colleague,
That is indeed a tough question. My first piece of advice is to bring your mother along to the residency, or maybe have her stay somewhere nearby. Or you could find a residency or a studio near your mother’s house.
I can’t tell from your question if you have explored all other possibilities: like organising to distribute the care among your siblings, kids, neighbours and the state... Have you?
My mother-in-law knows I love trinkets, so every Christmas she makes me a collection of them to display around the house. Unfortunately, I find them extremely tacky and they don’t match the aesthetic I’m going for. I’d like to hide or dispose of them, but I feel guilty, especially as she spends a lot of time on them. What should I do?
Dear House Proud,
Jump over your shadow, be openminded: display her trinkets and let yourself be embarrassed. If that is too difficult for your nerves, vanity or pride, there is no way out other than to tell her kindly, with explanations, why you don’t like them, and why shame is eating you. Your mother-in-law may appreciate your perspective, but I recommend a preliminary discussion with your wife/husband – by which I mean, her kid.
