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Perceptive Vision - Developing a Personal Style

Explore Scale.
You can explore scale by photocopying the image at different scales and placing them on a wall This will give some indication of how the image works at different scales.  Some image have more presence at a larger scale while surprisingly other work better smaller. Large images have a tendency to push the audience back from the detail of the work and if there are other people in the gallery a sense that the viewer is part of a larger audience. Smaller more intimate works have a tendency to invite the audience into a personal dialogue where they are the size of the audience is limited – in some cases to one.  Perhaps the technical aspects of the image play a role in this.

 

The murals for the Last Rivers Song had physical presence that related to the size and power of the real river. The large prints were contrasty graphic and had immediate visual impact.
Nude 272-2  - Lloyd Godman - 16-7-1987

Three selenium toned silver gelatine prints 5.2 X 7.8 cm each (total dimensions of work 7.8 X 16.5cm)

By contrast the prints from the following series of works- Body Symbols - were very small richly toned and intimate - indirectly they related the scale of the human to the enormity of the river.

 


Setting deadlines and finding an audience

When we look at a huge retrospective exhibition of an artist at a national gallery it seems a huge and impossible undertaking for someone just beginning. While it might be something to aspire to there are much less ambitious and simpler ways of finding an audience.
As many artists discover, exhibiting carries a certain romance, but it can be an expensive and time consuming exercise where there is a certain amount of praise from friends, no acknowledgment from the art critics and very few sales.

Exhibiting as part of a group can be a way of introducing your work without the obligation and expense of a full exhibition. Look to work with a group of other artists who have experience – learn form them how to hang the space, do the invites the opening etc.

Cafes are also good places to being exhibiting. For many years as part of the 3rd year of the BFA I supervised, the students had to find a free public space to exhibit in and organize the exhibition. It was surprising the spaces they turned up – banks – social service agencies – galleries – cafes – restaurants – bars – clubs. The people who controlled these spaces were delighted to have the work on the walls.

I find that by setting a realistic deadline, like booking an exhibition space, I have a defined date that I need to work to and the project gets finished. Many galleries tend to book exhibitions up to 2 years in advance, so if you want to exhibit you need to present a proposal sometime ahead.

If you are making an artist book look to set deadline, perhaps you could even have a launch and invite over some friends for a private viewing.

 

In recent years the web has become one of the cheapest and most accessible way of exhibiting work. There are even free spaces to exhibit your work. For instance Saatchi provide a very professional free site for artists.

 

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/Lloyd+Godman/16042.html