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'Offer Must End Soon' , 'Art Exchange'. University of Essex. Photo Jo Newman
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'Offer Must End Soon' , 'Art Exchange'. University of Essex. Photo Jo Newman
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My intention with this show was to subvert my own preconceptions about what a 'selling' show was. I don't see myself as a commercial artist so selling the work isn't really the motivation. At the same time it isn't as if the work is disposable either. Consequently it often ends up back in my studio after its been used in a show. I started to realise the obvious; that the more work I made the less space I had left to work in. I really needed to sell work not necessarily just for financial reasons but because my work needed a home to go to. However I looked at the dilemma, the best course of action seemed to be a journey into the world of art and commerce. It was something I had always seen as an anathema to my practice, arrogantly considering it ideologically shallow. In short I saw it as ‘selling out’.
The paradoxical nature of this show meant that my approach was deliberately duplicitous but conceptually I felt this also made it interesting. In a sense 'Offer Must End Soon' highlights the sociopathic tendencies of the contemporary art market itself.
The paradoxical nature of this show meant that my approach was deliberately duplicitous but conceptually I felt this also made it interesting. In a sense 'Offer Must End Soon' highlights the sociopathic tendencies of the contemporary art market itself.
'Offer Must End Soon' , 'Art Exchange'. University of Essex. Photo Jo Newman
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'Offer Must End Soon' , 'Art Exchange'. University of Essex. Photo Jo Newman
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I theorised that if the shows’ subject matter was ‘selling’ then by some twisted form of double negative logic, if I sold anything it wouldn't be 'selling out' it would just be a continuation of the piece. Consequently all the pictures in this exhibition had some reference to marketing or were in a deliberately crass way, trying to sell themselves.
The art collector Charles Saatchi paid a visit but although some of the work 'did' sell he didn't find it very amusing and didn't buy anything. A lot of the work inevitably ended up back in my studio. I never did quite manage to sell out.
Art Exchange, University of Essex and Studio 1:1 gallery, Redchurch Street, London. In 2014 most of this work (plus 'Give Me The Money') also featured in a retrospective at And Model gallery, Leeds.
There was a specific publication but some of this work also features in the book, 'Escape'.
The art collector Charles Saatchi paid a visit but although some of the work 'did' sell he didn't find it very amusing and didn't buy anything. A lot of the work inevitably ended up back in my studio. I never did quite manage to sell out.
Art Exchange, University of Essex and Studio 1:1 gallery, Redchurch Street, London. In 2014 most of this work (plus 'Give Me The Money') also featured in a retrospective at And Model gallery, Leeds.
There was a specific publication but some of this work also features in the book, 'Escape'.
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