On 29th January 2016, I gave an artist’s talk, Shadow Fabric, to a full auditorium at Plymouth College of Art and Design, followed by a curatorial interview with Zoe Li. The presentation accompanied my solo exhibition at Plymouth’s Mirror Gallery, where I was showing new painting, animation and large-scale draped installations.
Behind me, the cinema screen displayed images of the artworks, experiments and processes that had contributed to the exhibition. I spoke about the development of my practice, including my work with The Geometrics, and how those investigations had informed the paintings and sculptural forms presented at Plymouth.
I have always enjoyed public speaking. There is something energising about bringing the private processes of the studio into a shared space, where ideas can be explained, questioned and developed through conversation.
Making art involves long periods of experimentation, observation and decision-making that are often invisible in the finished work. An artist’s talk offers an opportunity to make that thinking public: to show how one experiment leads to another, how materials suggest unexpected directions and how artworks develop through relationships with other artists, exhibitions and ideas.
I particularly enjoy the questions that follow a presentation. They can reveal connections I had not previously considered or prompt me to articulate something that has remained intuitive during the making process.
This photograph, taken by Jake McPherson, is one of the few images I have of myself lecturing to a large audience. I value it because it captures a part of my artistic life that matters greatly to me: the pleasure of communicating ideas, sharing knowledge and opening my work to discussion.
Looking back at the presentations and lectures I have given over the years, I can also see the beginnings of future publications. They contain a record of how my thinking has developed, often bringing together artworks, research and personal observations in ways that an exhibition alone cannot.
The lecture theatre, like the studio or gallery, can become a place where artistic ideas take shape.
Artist Talk
Title: Shadow Fabric
Date: 29 January 2016
Venue: Plymouth College of Art and Design, Plymouth, UK
Context: Solo exhibition at Mirror Gallery, Plymouth, 2016
Format: Artist’s presentation and curatorial interview with Zoe Li
Photography: Jake McPherson