Stub Footed Pigeon
Stub Footed Pigeon was an Art Exhibition with DJs, or if you prefer; a banging club night with Art. Whichever stance you prefer to take it was a good night at the Perfect 5th, Taunton. The £3 door tax went towards raising money for the Somerset College Fine Art degree show which will be held in June at the college and local art gallery The Brewhouse.
I exhibited my latest sculpture alongside a wide variety of work by Richard Balman, Felix Stochaj, Jena Bartley, Gina Ford, Ashley Thomas, Steve O'Shea, Terry Sommerville, Will Day, Luke Parkman, and Ellen Goldsmith who are all current students or alumni of the college. The event was conjured up by Felix Stochaj and I was proud to work with him in making it happen.
The DJs were a great variety organised into a progressive build up. Starting the night was Funky P (pictured above) who played old school funk and hip hop for the first hour and a bit. Then we had event creator Felix playing a set followed by Selector Dawid, SparkS & JoshNRG, and T on the Table & MightyD. Now I don't know much about the music other than what I do and do not like so I shall leave the writing about that to Hyperfrank.
So that's the objective view out the way, let me get personal. It was a bit disappointing to see none of the course tutors at the event. Considering it was raising hard cash for the most important date in an art degree course's calender you would think they'd make an effort. This is exactly the kind of thing that fine art should be doing more of. Shows that are really accessible to the public held alongside things that are culturally popular. We are in the age of the DJ (musically speaking) and alcohol is as popular as ever so if art wants to reach the people, it's a logical conclusion to hold shows in bars.
Now, lets zoom in on my one piece of art that I was exhibiting. The public reaction was exactly as I expected. I revel in making pieces of work that are easily misinterpreted. I don't know why but I just love pitching my stance in a way that is close to the borderline between each side of a debate. Strangely though my view is never interpreted as sitting on the fence but rather one side or the other, as if the viewers could never conceive an artist to be an impartial host for a debate but rather they must be a one sided extremist. Maybe I love that satisfying moment when I realise that the person ranting at me about how wrong I am is actually in agreement with me and I then drop a simple one line explanation that makes them realise so.
Strangely enough I actually received criticism from one "fan" for being the only artist to have included a formal write up of my work. But I make no apologies for that. As an art fan I have observed plenty of exhibits that have not made sense until I read the write up. I find Tracey Emin consistently produces pieces of work that do not appeal to me until I read about them and then they become pieces I really like. On the other hand I do still stick to my personal ethos that I should strive to make all my own art appeal in an immediate sense without any explanation being needed, like Blaine Fontana. When I produce something I want it to be at least interesting to look at from the outset and then the verbose academic write up will extend the understanding of the work and give the viewer a more wholesome experience. Art viewers all land somewhere on the scale between short-attention span cool hunter to hardcore academic book geek. Both ends of the scale are equally valued but both are made to feel satisfied in very different ways.
To view a Flikr album of the event click this lovely sentence