Jealous is a print studio/gallery, currently showing new drawings by artist Jayoon Choi. I happened to be passing as the show was opening, and it turned out to be fortuitous as I was soon handed a glass of wine by the gallery owner/dealer, Dario Illari, who started to talk and show me round. He was keen to talk shop. As he said, they are small and expensive - they are really top notch, all trained artists/printmakers themselves. They work with artists such as Tracy Emin, Mark Wallinger, Tacita Dean, and many other known and less well known artists. We discussed art fairs - I had seen Jealous at some previously. They have been running for three years and already attend several art fairs a year. It costs them about £10,000 to set up at a fair, and so they aim to turnover £20,000 to make the few days worthwhile, as they build up reputation. He talked about how they keep up with artists they have shown or championed (they run a graduate prize), and follow through with new editions, etc.
Also discussed how they arrange editions with artists, how they split resources, etc, and also the money making/artistic balance. They make big editions for museums and galleries. It was illuminating to talk to someone so enthusiastic and open in this field. My last experience with a commercial gallery could not have been more different or more bruising. Just a few weeks ago I had an appointment at Salon contemporary Gallery in Westbourne Grove, London. I had sent a link to my website to them in response for a call for artists, for their development scheme. It is a paid mentoring scheme - the artist is not paid, the artist pays. Although I had already decided not to sign up, I went for fact-finding. As requested, I brought three pieces of work - moving image and a framed still, to give them an idea of my practice. Even now I shudder to think of what happened there. It turned out to be a "Dragon's Den" scenario - I had to talk for a few minutes while a couple behind a desk looked at what I brought. After I had said my thing, one of them said he didn't see anything that spoke to him in my work and what I had said.
Okay, I thought, fair enough, I thought, and started to pack up and go. Then followed what must be one of the most excruciating 10 minutes of my life.
There are all sorts of people in the art world, and there is space for many. Some people set themselves up as art dealers, and without that, the business of art would not circulate. Gallerists and curators like Daria Illari of Jealous is an artist, has an arts background, knows how to collaborate with artists, galleries and institutions, and how to deal with individual artists trying to negotiate their practice within commercial terms, ie, trying to make a living. I find artists tend to be respectful of one another, and no matter the practice, there is a common empathy and appreciation of the practice, the effort, and the difficulties in trying to make it all work. I feel comfortable in the company of artists. I feel it is being with people of like mind.
The experience at Salon was the opposite of that.
Despite some years of research in this area, I still find the whole gallery system rather mysterious and elusive. I have read, attended talks, visited, discussed this with other artists, and still find the commissioning and exhibition process nebulous. Just how does a moving image artist or a conceptual artist make money from exhibiting? I have realised that there is no real answer to join into - we all have to make it up as we go along, and piece together opportunities as they arise.
The Jealous Gallery show, new drawings by Jayoon Choi
There are also other intricate drawings of trees and figures, which are, if I may say so, rather Emin-like. What distinguishes her work, and also elevates it, are the artist's use of titles. Even a singular sketch has a title, a word, which adds depths and makes her practice definitely more considered. Trees are entitled - shivering - stuck - merely. People - I see you - we are heading to the same direction - passed each other.
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| 466. Jayoon Choi aoooi.co.uk |
The drawings were also reminiscent of some I had seen recently by Sean Edwards (images to follow if I can find some online). They were at Spike Island in Bristol, in his solo exhibition, Maelfa.
I was assessing the exhibition in my role as Artistic Assessor in Visual Arts at the Arts Council. The exhibition was a multi media show inspired by his residency at a faded shopping centre in Wales. The drawings, Towerblock I, II and III were spare little details of windows and architecture, just a little clusters of structure marked out in a sea of white page. They were spare and suggestive, evidence of what the artists eye notices.
I am rather drawn to such work which gives the viewer just enough so that the imagination fills in the rest of the scene.
5th March 2011
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