I am working now in Spain as an English assistant (auxiliar), this is full time so between September and June my time is tight. For the two shows in Germany Marc De Coene curated the exhibitions from work I had already completed and several new works I managed to make in my spare time.
Because of this there was no theme as such other than it was a collection of work from me. For me It was a great opportunity to properly show Marc my larger sculptures on exhibit and to prove that these pieces were good enough for the Swab art fair in Barcelona in October. Also that the work could all be seen together so that he curate the stand for Barcelona. I knew that selling work in Erolzheim and Ravensburg would be difficult this year I just hoped that I could cover the costs at least of the transportation and materials and my own expenses.The origins of these works are so varied that I am not going to into it now other than to say that really it is always semi auto biographical and the symbols I use or gather become part of my own visual language such as the planes, horses, houses and thorns these things become to me like instruments that I pick up and play.
Because of this there was no theme as such other than it was a collection of work from me. For me It was a great opportunity to properly show Marc my larger sculptures on exhibit and to prove that these pieces were good enough for the Swab art fair in Barcelona in October. Also that the work could all be seen together so that he curate the stand for Barcelona. I knew that selling work in Erolzheim and Ravensburg would be difficult this year I just hoped that I could cover the costs at least of the transportation and materials and my own expenses.The origins of these works are so varied that I am not going to into it now other than to say that really it is always semi auto biographical and the symbols I use or gather become part of my own visual language such as the planes, horses, houses and thorns these things become to me like instruments that I pick up and play.
Some of these works are buildings in Madrid, drawings of layouts for larger sculptures, ideas for horses stands.I have always worked this way meandering between drawings, sculptures and a bit of painting. I like it and I would usually work on seven or eight pieces at the one time, I get bored so I take a break and work on another piece. I always feel if you are really bored at working on a piece and it becomes a real labor it shows in the work and it´s crap. Occasionally larger pieces will drive me nuts and I really have to push it to finish but that´s understandable.But I think it´s always really important to keep an interest in what your doing ,enjoy the moments, to me the drawing and working physically on new pieces is what it´s all about.
For the past two and a half years a lot of my time has been spent on logistics of transporting work around Europe. To make it all possible I had to transport my art in the same way you might transport materials or goods. Basically the way this works is a transport company may have a articulated lorry 80% full so they lease out the remaining 20% to a logistics company who in turn rent this available space. The conditions are that everything has to be on pallets not exceeding (HxWxD) 2x1.2x1 meters.The works on the pallets must be well boxed and fixed in place and wrapped taking into consideration that the pallets will be treated like ´goods´pallets and not as works of art. Taking all of this into consideration the difference between art transportation and freight is huge. I simply could not have succeeded in another way. Since moving to Madrid first part time for two years and then full time the last year I have transported pallets back and forth from Dublin - Madrid / Madrid - Dublin / Dublin - Barcelona / Barcelona - Madrid /
Madrid - Erolzheim (Germany) - Madrid . In total it was fourteen pallets varying in price. But for example from Dublin to Madrid one way was between €250 - 350 where art transportation was €5,000.
The last number of years has been taken up with relocating and the logistics of organizing shows on a shoestring budget. It has worked out well though I now have a gallery representation in Barcelona and i have several solo shows this year alone as well as an art fair in Barcelona. I want get back to drawing working in the studio though and enjoying the moments. Do more of the stuff above like the drawing of the sea on an old tobacco table I found in the basement.
Altogether I sent seventy pieces of drawing and sculptures to Germany to be divided between the two shows and the wok arrived safe and sound less than a week later.These deadlines forced me to finally complete a lot of the these works although some of them I have begun to work on again. Just the larger pieces I want to put them in different shows if I can get it finished.
There was a good turn out at both of the shows in Erolzheim and Ravensburg but it was difficult to sell as I had expected but I managed to sell enough to cover the costs of materials and transportation which was also part financed by Culture Ireland as part of the European Presidency Program. The way I see it one thing leads to another this work has served me well and now it was necessary to concentrate on Barcelona in October.So it was good bye to the beautiful town of Erolzheim where Bea and myself had a ball and where I went back to in September to take down the show and spend a week.
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