'....But There Are Just So Many of You'

It does seem I have to admit, that anyone who picks up a pencil, crayon or felt tip at the moment can call themselves an artist.

Especially here in the South West of England. Never mind the bloody caravans the place is awash with these creative types. And then I move down from London and only add to the mayhem.



Now don't get me wrong, the more artists the better! Especially for companies like us who are always on the look out for new talent to exhibit with us.

It does however throw a number of frogs into the boiling pot that tend to do none of us any favours.

Funding is of course the biggest issue. I had a 2 hour meeting with our local MP all about this last week. And his response was actually quite enlightening I thought...'We want to help the Arts but there are just so many of you...!' And he is right. To a degree.
The difference however, between a self proclaimed artist doing sketching work of ones pet at the weekend and a trained fine artist struggling to get the very best sculpture/conceptual work shown is quite well, different.
And now as we are seeing the doom day arrive of mass spending cuts, I must say I actually welcome shaving expenditure to big organisations that 'enable' the arts as most of the money seems to go towards staffing, admin and utilities - and the artists involved may just get a free pint :) Is this what funding for the Arts is for? Surely not...

The next issue is of course how do you stand out from the crowd?? Its rather like trying to play Chinese Whispers at a Rage Against The Machine gig.

So to do this we decided that the quality of work we exhibit has to be paramount.

We will only exhibit thoroughly thought through contemporary work, preferably by artists who have been trained at a tertiary level in their practise.

**I often wonder is this elitist? Well our customers and spectators will expect the best from a contemporary art organisation like us so we have to ensure we can provide the best**



One solution that was suggested to me was if all these groups, organisations, enablers etc work together to form a mass art company that covers all areas. Well, not too sure about how that could work to be quite honest...it's rather like saying we should have one radio station, one TV channel, one clothes shop....then of course we are delving into a political agenda that I think by all accounts didn't work out too well for some people and countries...



Competition is healthy and so is diversity.



What we aim for in our company, what we strive to succeed in and what responses we get from the people enjoying what we offer seems to work thus far. So I think we'll keep doing it.

Plus I'll bring a loud speaker to the next RATM gig, that should do it.

Dorset?! Why Dorset?

Does contemporary art need to be in urban areas? Well, I think I would answer no.

I have been running South West Artwork on and off since 2006 by doing exhibitions, creating commission opportunities for other fine artists and generally promoting contemporary art in rural and unusual settings.

And you know, I was surprised by the response. Having moved down from London the impression I got was 'the end of the train line'. The end of civilisation. That's it I've sold out to retire at the tender age of 26...

But having lived and worked here for over 5 years I couldn't think of a better place to be. Seriously.

The amount of artists and general public who have left comments and spoken to me directly saying 'thank you', 'thank you for bringing contemporary art to Dorset', 'I haven't found an outlet to show my work for ages then you guys show up'. All great to hear obviously, but so telling that there is a need for it. A need by artists and a want by the general public.

Over the past few years we have built up a great circle of artists who exhibit with us. Some are recent graduates, some are emerging fine artists and some are established and have been doing it for years. Usually however they would have to go to larger city areas to exhibit their work. And what a shame that is, why deprive the good people of Dorset and the South West of home grown talent exhibiting on their doorstep?

The proof of interest is of artists emailing nearly every day to exhibit with us and the general public wondering when our next exhibition is. It shows a thirst for contemporary art to have a spotlight in rural areas. 'We love contemporary art but we also like the sea, the open fields etc etc'...and in our case owning rather spoilt hens at the bottom of the garden!

It might the end of the train line but what a damn fine place to exhibit great contemporary art work...