Photo: Jo Newman
The relationship I have with the commercial aspect of making art is a paradoxical one. The work often comes from a thought process that can be philosophical and deeply personal. I believe that this process is key to the artworks authenticity. Selling the work to an anonymous stranger therefore always feels like a contradictory act that undermines this. Conversely I have often made artworks that are specific to people I know personally and have given them as presents. This has never been a financial transaction because, like most people, I always feel embarrassed trying to profit from my friends.
I met Casper in 1997 when he bought an artwork from me. To help me get over my hang up about selling work Casper considers himself the `custodian’ of the artwork not its owner. Over the years he has bought several pieces of work and I have got to know him. I now consider him my friend and consequently I am embarrassed to take money from him.
I met Casper in 1997 when he bought an artwork from me. To help me get over my hang up about selling work Casper considers himself the `custodian’ of the artwork not its owner. Over the years he has bought several pieces of work and I have got to know him. I now consider him my friend and consequently I am embarrassed to take money from him.
Photo: Jo Newman
In 2007 Casper asked me if I would make an artwork that was specific to him personally. He even had a price in mind so I went to visit him to talk about the idea I had come up with. When I began to explain that the work would involve a portrait he said he didn’t want anything so “self important and pompous”. However, I went on to tell him that the portrait would be no bigger than an inch square and show him holding the money he was going to pay me. I then said it would be inside a toy wheel barrow and he began to warm to the idea.
Casper posing for his portrait holding my fee.
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The wheel barrow was positioned in a night time composition with a model street lamp and a toy van. The box that contained the composition was a documents/cash tin. I went on to explain that the wheel barrow would be positioned so that it would appear as if it was about to be unceremoniously pushed up a plank into the back of a toy Group 4 security van. I had no idea until this point but by pure coincidence Casper had once been a Group 4 security van driver.
(For more art about money and selling see also, 'Offer Must End Soon'-, 'Cheap Cheap' and 'Give Me The Money'). |