Andrew Ensor - “Illustrations for the Ill”
Andrew is about to put on an Exhibition “Illustration for the Ill” Feb 12 - 24 at Gaffa Gallery 1/7 Randle Street Surry Hills NSW and is willingly writing about his journey… Brave Lad! Let’s check out what’s happening, as he adds information I will add it below…
21/01/09 – the story so far…
It is 3 weeks until the opening night of my 12th solo exhibition, entitled “Illustrations for the Ill”. It will be my third with Gaffa Gallery, an artist run space in Surry Hills. I had applied at the end of last year for a show in late 09, but another artist’s cancellation left a slot free for 2 weeks in February, which I was happy to take. I’m writing this in an attempt to share the trials, tribulation and tantrums involved in putting on an exhibition.
So far the gallery has been paid for, the first half is paid upon the initial booking, the second half is paid 4 weeks prior to the opening night. The invites have been decided on, and are being sent to the printers today. The artwork itself is mostly finished, I’m trying to limit the show to 24 pieces this time, of which about 20 have been chosen so far. Framing remains one of the bigger issues, having picked up about 10 frames so far I was informed that certain colours I liked were ‘discontinued lines’ which means a bit of a re-think.
This is probably the most prepared I’ve ever been at this stage before a show, usually my approach has been to work on paintings and drawings in these weeks leading up to the opening in an effort to explore every aspect of the theme and ideas in the show. This time I’ve taken a different approach, as I’m not sure how beneficial my previous method was. It’s certainly helps the nerves to have things prepared in advance.
I’ll try and expand and detail what’s been mentioned above in future posts.
Regards
Andrew
27/01/09 – gallery matters…
The long weekend was unproductive in terms of preparations for the show. More thinking than doing was involved. I had some more ideas about how the art work should be arranged in the space as well as how things should be framed but instead of documenting some of these mundane choices (that will probably change half a dozen times in the next two weeks anyway) I thought I’d write a bit about one of the more important elements of an exhibition, the gallery.
Of the three galleries I have exhibited with Gaffa is the largest in terms of floor space, it is also the only gallery still operating. (An unfortunate nature of artist run spaces is their short lifespan). Although it is an artist run space, Gaffa Gallery does receive government funding which means unlike the other galleries I’ve shown at, someone is paid for to sit the space during opening hours and the invites are paid for too. This is a big help to me, as it means I don’t have to take 2 weeks off work in order to put on an exhibition all the time. They also handle the bar on opening night, invites, press and just make life easier in general.
I’ve been fortunate that each gallery I’ve shown with has been run by wonderful, inspiring, not to mention helpful and forgiving people. And in the case of both Side-on Gallery and Gallery Fourtyfour I’d still be having shows there today if they hadn’t closed down.
Of course it’s always a little bit easier the second time having a show with a gallery, at least you know where everything is, and how things work, hopefully more so by the third time. Anything that minimises the work load and lets me focus on the actual artwork and set up is a bonus, as there are always plenty of things to stress about if the inclination is there.
Cheers
A.
01/02/09 – framed…
As an illustrator that works on paper framing is an important and costly part of any exhibition, In the past I have tried most things, for a few years I used a professional framer, and this really is the best thing you can do for your work, but in order to have more than one show a year I had to find other ways to get work framed, including cheap store bought stuff from $2 stores, reusing frames, pinning work directly to the wall etc…
For this show I really wanted to put some money into frames to give the show a fresh feel. The ones I had been using in the past were getting a bit worn having been recycled for a number of exhibitions.
My local mini mall has a camera store that stock a shadow box frame in various pastel colours and after buying a couple to hang work at home I thought they would be an effective way to tie the show together.
In some ways I would have preferred to go back to a framer, but with very little time to prepare it just became easier to go with the photo frame option, they are of a high quality and re-usable plus I think they suit the drawings.
2/3rds of the drawings are good to go and I’ll finish putting them behind glass tonight which should give me a better idea of how to finish the last eight I think.
Thanks for reading
A.
03/02/09 – invite delays …
The gallery emailed on the weekend to let me know the fliers had been delayed as the printers they use are Chinese and were closed a few days due to the Chinese new year (a great example of how regardless of your preparation, things can always come up you hadn’t counted on). I received another email today saying they’d be ready for pick up tomorrow which is good. This is an exciting part of an exhibition, watching it all come together. The fliers are usually the first thing which makes it actually feel real for me.
There’s still a bit to do once the invites are picked up. I still have to distribute them, finish off framing, decide on the titles and prices of work, organise a way to transport the art to the gallery (I don’t have a licence or a car), install the work, and probably a few other things I always forget too.
In order to do all this I’ve taken a couple of days off work next week (I work full time in a university library and so generally I try to exhibit in the school holidays when it isn’t as busy). As mentioned in a previous post the gallery cover someone to sit the space, so at least I only have to take a few days instead of a couple of weeks.
Cheers
A
08/02/09 – Just three more sleeps…
until I will be setting up the show. Exhaustion, doubt, paranoia, fear, derision, delirium, terror, tears, trauma, disaster, horror, headaches, frustration, back pains, nausea, nightmares, tooth aches, humiliation, panic, rage, regret, noose bleeds and heart breaks will all feature at some point in my week if they have not already.
I’ve been handing out fliers since getting them on Wednesday, putting some in cafes and bars, art schools, galleries and book stores, anywhere that has a display area for such things, at this point the focus is on trying to promote the show as much as possible. I’ve had a lot more school friends as well as extended family join facebook in the past year since so it will interesting to see if this helps get a few more people through the door. It is always easier to promote work I’m confident in, and I really feel this is some of my best drawing. The better the job done with promotion the more pressure there is to put on a good show.
Regards
A.
12/02/09 – show time!
Yesterday was the ‘bump in’ and I’ll admit to being as nervous as I’ve ever been. Things were off to a bad start when I rang Dominos pizza instead of a taxi cab when trying to get 25 framed drawings to the gallery. But despite my failings as a human being that always rise to the surface when the pressure is on, I still managed to get it all done. It’s hard to tell yet if it works as an exhibition, at the moment I can only see the mistakes and what could have been - potential that was missed. That’s not to say I’m not happy with my artwork, because I am. It’s just that a good show can really be greater than the sum of its parts if done correctly.
The opening is tonight.
All there is to do now is turn up, get drunk and try to have a good time, hopefully sell something.
20/02/09 – back to reality…
It’s been over a week since the opening night, and I appologise for the lack of posting in that time. I would like to say that it’s due to all the illicit sex and drugs involved in being an exhibiting artist, but unfortunatley that isn’t the case. In fact I’ve been back at work since Monday getting ready for another semester of students. It gets harder to return to work after each show.
All went well, a good turn out of people and a few red dots by the end of the opening meant I slept a little better that night. Unfortunatley I forgot to take my camera, but I have taken some shots of the exhibition during the day and will hopefully get them up on the weekend. I was a little dissapointed in the way I hung the show, hopefully I’m just being my own worse critic but I like an exhibition to be greater than the sum of it’s parts. In this case the work was some of my best, but I’m not sure that the ideas came through or that it came together as well as it could have.
Although I’ve been doing this for a few years now, I am aware that these are still very early days, and it’s all a learning experience at this point. I had planned to book a couple more shows at a different gallery for later in the year, which I emailed after my opening. Saddley the intended gallery, another artist run space will be shutting it’s doors soon. This leaves me a bit up in the air for the rest of the year as I like to have something on the horizon to work towards. At least this will motivate me to start seeing more shows and checking out new gallerys.
The exhibition is still on for a few more days, I will take the work down next Tuesday evening. So for those Sydney people that would still like to see the show it will be on until the 24/02/09, it might be the last chance you have to see my work for another year or so.
Thanks again to Steve for the added online promotion, and for anyone that kept reading, or came along to the show. It is apprieciated.
Thanks again
Andrew
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