Professional shows at Whitechapel gallery and elsewhere are all well and good but this latest by Random Artists represents the heart and soul of art in London, the one that still pumps despite gentrification and the big money art goldrush bullshit.
So we took a trip to Manor House and the industrial estate where Random Artists' latest show is being held. Broken windows, rusted metal, industrial sheds in decline...I briefly imagined 70s New York before the gold rush, a city of abandoned industrial buildings brought to life by artists...and how all that seems left now for London artists is the hope of finding precious remnants of this city's industrial age that haven't been priced beyond the reach of all but developers and investors.
Random Artists were kindly given this space, for free...
...not sure who the dog (bitch, to be precise) belonged to but she persisted in getting us to play ball and we obliged throughout the visit because who could resist a three-legged dog that wants to play ball?
The work by Vesna Parchet impressed me the most, not because it was 'better' than the rest, simply because, as you know, I'm a big fan of collage and she's a great collagist, exploiting recycled, raw material, integrating planes, colour, paint and subject matter brilliantly...
...I was also struck by this work from Sean Orr, about whom I can find no info or site on the 'net...
...there were two great dolls' houses too but with no artist's name attached that I could find...
...chatting to one of the organisers I discovered that getting a lot of the artists to actually put their names alongside the work had been a bit of an effort in the past, never mind prices. I was curious about both aspects. My suggestion that pricing wasn't a bad thing wasn't met with hostility, although she did emphasise that the point here was showing, not selling. I felt like an uber capitalist, you know, one of the art-as-money types, but believe my point is valid. What's wrong with selling, being paid for your efforts? I could have banged on about how I make art with actual sales being the last thing on my mind by didn't want to play the 'pure artist' card too much. When she suggested that potential buyers would track down info on the artist the obvious response was that buyers want it easy and any obstacle, even having to click a mouse a few times, is a possible deterrent. That was my How To Sell Art More Easily speech...from someone who doesn't sell much.
The event, which included films, performance and music, end tonight (Sat 12) but if you can't get there make sure you bookmark the Random Artists site and watch for upcoming shows.
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