and another thing
Over time and between exhibitions, much of the work illustrated in this archive was stored on racks in attics, basements and spare rooms. Such is art making when the primary aim is to expose ideas rather than promote sales. 2015 saw a need to downsize - a task that can be particularly daunting. But it turns out that there is an upside to downsizing. Indeed, in many ways it is genuinely cathartic. Moving from a house / studio / workshop to an apartment encourages a long hard look at stored drawings, prints, sculptures and canvases. In this case, my final step was to cull, shred, rip, bag and say 'goodbye' at the kerb to much of what is often euphemistically referred to as being in the collection of the artist.
art-in-a-bag: a fifty year summation. In the finest traditions of conceptual and performance art, this new work was installed at the end of our drive on Grimes Avenue (28/09/15). But, the installation and its move from kerb to truck went unrecorded as did the identity of the actors. This put me in mind of Canadian sculptor/printmaker McCleary Drope who, in the early 1970s, travelled to pre-selected map coordinates where he looked at the scene but did not record it beyond his own memory of the moment. The lack of a record notwithstanding, September 28th may have been one of the more inciteful / insightful moments in my career. In terms of space and time, the event spanned and summarised the residue of fifty years activity that renged across two countries, two provinces and fifteen home-based studios.
documentation
A further development of downsizing, was my reintroduction to a myriad documents that lurked in drawers, binders, and miscellaneous nooks and crannies. They include exhibition announcements, catalogues and newspaper articles. Scanning, shredding and recycling these documents was a significant step in the downsizing process. Posting the digitized files to this website imposed a structure for creating and maintaining a personal archive.
Finally, I should acknowledge that it was particularly rewarding to rediscover records of when and where my work showed alongside that of my talented wife and partner of over fifty years, Gillian (Jill Clarke) Maycock.