On The Shelf: Sculpture or Ornament?
My grandmother ran a boarding house next door to the town police station. Her lodgers were mainly policemen, other working men just starting out in life, and the occasional travelling salesman. Lining the walls of her dark, linoleum-floored passage were a series of child-sized girl figures holding charity collection boxes labelled: ‘The Blind’, ‘Action for […]
The Cost Of Hope in the Art World
In 2024, the creative industries contributed an estimated £145.8 billion to the UK’s GVA, with the arts subsector accounting for £11.4 billion. Yet much of that value doesn’t arise from straightforward art sales; it also reflects the many services artists are encouraged to purchase in pursuit of visibility, validation, and eventual sales. Artists are not usually the […]
‘Mark Making’: Art-world Jargon?
I’m with a group of artists looking at a piece of poor-quality artwork that is being critiqued. Someone adds their penn’orth, commenting enthusiastically on the “mark making.” I sigh inwardly, here we go again. This is a classic example of baffling art-speak, used by the sometimes clueless to sound knowledgeable. It’s a phrase I find […]