Yesterday saw the second Q-Art convenor of the season. For those unfamiliar with Q-Art or the convenor format you can check out Q-Art's website : http://www.q-artlondon.com
At art school there is the use of a teaching forum which they call a 'convenor', a derivation of the group crit. The basic format is to take a large group of students, say 30-40, and have 5-7 of them present their work to the rest of the group after which the group gets to 'critique' or respond critically to the works shown. Q-Art was created to allow this sharing of critical ideas to occur cross institutions, throwing the convenor open not just to the students of the particular college, but to all students, tutors, curators, critics, philosophers etc. In other words, anyone who wanted to come along.
It was my first time presenting at Q-Art yesterday and in my opinion the entire convenor was excellent, with plenty of engaging discussions. The piece I presented was a landscape that is nearly finished, currently untitled, and that explores further the themes that have been occupying me recently, namely the creation of a shamanic space on a canvas through the balancing of diametrically opposed elements (binaries). The people attending were sharp, informed and had plenty of engaging comments to make about the work.
There was some feedback that stood out as being areas I may need to resolve. It was debated whether or not you could see the character of the artist rather than just the hand in the work. It also became clear to me that I need a clearer definition of terms like mysticism and enchantment when I talk about my paintings. It is also evident that my approach to this line of questioning is western in nature and it would be interesting to see how responses to my work differ from culture to culture. To that end I will post weekly a piece that I would like to discuss on this blog, sometimes it will be my work and sometimes the work of other artists discussed in the light of the themes I am tackling.
My thanks go out to Sarah Rowles for organising the Q-Art event and to Central St. Martins for hosting. If you would like to offer your own comments please do so.
