Blog
Roar Like A Paintbrush: exhibition in Udaipur City Palace
05/03/2016
My second-ever painting show! However many times I had set the paintings up to work with on my studio wall, I hadn't bothered thinking about their final installation. I knew something would occur to me once I got them into the building, and got a feeling for the space. Ideas occurr at the last minute that no amount of pondering can produce. I would have like to involve coloured panels but knew this would really be too risky in case re-painting became awkward - poor quality paint that would have needed plural coats for instance.
Paul Vater and his partner Paul suggested that I include the original photos as a reference and echo. I decided before going that I'd make a 'room' to hang them around, breaking up the long gallery into something more articulated and encouraging a flow of movement around the space. I placed my original man Colonel Eden (Why the Long Face Eden) on the far wall, aligned with the photograph to imply some kind of axis. Amazingly, the gallery manager declared herself intrigued by my spirit level, saying she had never seen one before. It is now part of their kit.
Setting the paintings on the ground, I played around with possibilites, starting with a linear arrangement and shuffling them around like Scrabble tiles till something more exciting emerged. I soon had fixed on an arrangement for the paintings that included some reaction with the white walls, using them as negative space. Photographs of the audience posing among the paintings makes me there is something inclusive about this way of hanging that invites people to approach and have their faces framed by my faces - maybe it's because the heads are roughly life-size.
Rajesh Soni, the grandson of the photographer who took the original photos came to see the show and toured me around each picture, analysing whether each was a copy or original. He explained that some were originally tiny calling cards, and that you could see the grain where the photograph has been blown up. One image Iparticular took my breath away when he oointed out that what seemed a glossy almost oily finish was in fact the most delcate over-painting, done in the most miniscule brushstrokes.
Paul Vater and his partner Paul suggested that I include the original photos as a reference and echo. I decided before going that I'd make a 'room' to hang them around, breaking up the long gallery into something more articulated and encouraging a flow of movement around the space. I placed my original man Colonel Eden (Why the Long Face Eden) on the far wall, aligned with the photograph to imply some kind of axis. Amazingly, the gallery manager declared herself intrigued by my spirit level, saying she had never seen one before. It is now part of their kit.
Setting the paintings on the ground, I played around with possibilites, starting with a linear arrangement and shuffling them around like Scrabble tiles till something more exciting emerged. I soon had fixed on an arrangement for the paintings that included some reaction with the white walls, using them as negative space. Photographs of the audience posing among the paintings makes me there is something inclusive about this way of hanging that invites people to approach and have their faces framed by my faces - maybe it's because the heads are roughly life-size.
Rajesh Soni, the grandson of the photographer who took the original photos came to see the show and toured me around each picture, analysing whether each was a copy or original. He explained that some were originally tiny calling cards, and that you could see the grain where the photograph has been blown up. One image Iparticular took my breath away when he oointed out that what seemed a glossy almost oily finish was in fact the most delcate over-painting, done in the most miniscule brushstrokes.
