This week I have a couple of small pieces of curiosity on show at the Hundred Years Gallery, Hoxton, London E2….
A giant opium poppy pod – Papaver Somniferum Giganteum – installed tonight as part of Jo Fisher Roberts and Giles Leaman’s Library of Obscure Wonders at Hundred Years Gallery, London E2 ahead of Thursday night’s opening…
“The Library of Obscure Wonders was founded as a contemporary Cabinet of Curiosities – exploring, recording, and collecting wonders in everyday life. Since it’s opening the Library has collected many items receiving works from scientists, artists, and explorers. The show includes new works by Jo Fisher Roberts and GIles Leaman as well as contributions from other artists and live performance”.
Pieces added to the New Layers portfolio this evening….
Some thoughts from last Monday…. MAKING ART IS NOT A HOBBY
Cultivate Evolved doesn’t open on a Monday, unless by appointment of course, if you really can’t make one of the days we are open all day then we’ll happily open for you if we’re around, one of us usually is (the space is always open from 11.30am until 6pm Thursday until Sunday). Being closed doesn’t mean Cultivate hasn’t been taking up my entire day today though, the beast of an art chute gleefully eats up every single day of my life right now. I hoped it might change once we evolved things but no no no….
Being an artist is a state of mind, it isn’t a hobby, don’t misunderstand, there’s nothing wrong with painting as a hobby, I sometimes envy those who can just step in and out, those who can simply enjoy it. Being an artist isn’t something you turn on and turn off, you dont get to go on holiday, you can’t have other priorities, you can’t say well I got to go meet a girl/boy this week instead, not if you really are an artist. Being an artist is a (rewarding?) sacrifice, being a working artist is not an easy option, it isn’t really an option, some might say being an artist is a burden, an affliction. For years i tried to deny it, escape it, fight it off, I hid from the affliction in the back of tour vans filling my head with loud music and all that excess, it can’t be avoided though, my name is Sean and I am an artist/ Being an artist is what I have to do, there is no option – friends, relationships, parties, holidays, food, family, bands, football, walks in the park, social life (other than art show openings, if there’s time to go to an opening, if you can put your brush down), having a life is out of the window, I think there was a point to all this, but that’s gone out of the window as well now (there are no windows in this studio, if there a world out there? I don’t know), the point was something to do with being as artist takes serious commitment, sacrifice, desire, you have to fight for your art and the places you show your art, and really, if you can avoid it, you really should. .
And with all that in mind, the running of Cultivate and the burden of artists and the lack of commitment is driving me just a little bit over the edge this week…. it needs a little bit more than coffee and cakes if you know what I mean
Sean Worrall 