The Summer Show Build

The show build is underway. For my part we have already hung the paintings and the computers (with headphones placed on floor cushions in place in front of each of them) to show the videos – one for each painting.

My display looks simple and clear, the wall only allows five paintings but that is as it is – the space is limited. The wall itself is a good wall; lit by natural lighting. In the morning the light is perfect, in the afternoon the light is not so good but still OK. I am very pleased with the display – it occurred to me that it looks also looks like a celebration of apple computers as there is a row of them deployed poetically.

The nitty gritty of the show build has been noted and is logged in the following:

We (Alexis and I) arrived three days ago on 25th June, our little van packed to the full and with roof rack full,  with the four remaining paintings, the floor cushions, tools and materials needed for the hanging. We were able to park near to the Camberwell. The journey time had been four and a half hours, so we had had an early morning start. The first thing was to unload, which took some time as the paintings had to be carried upstairs, one at a time, as did the cushions. This was quite strenuous – alexis helped with the unloading but I had to get all the stuff upstairs as he had to immediately log on for the regular Tuesday (1-3pm) Skype meeting with his first year peers. All in all it took a while to arrive and it was quiet strenuous and time-consuming but that is always the case, so best to allow plenty of time – as we always strive to do. Robin arrived at about the same time after along journey, so Alexis helped him carry his things upstairs once he had finished his Skype session.

Also, on arrival there had just been a significant change in the arrangements for the room, which needed clarifying, so some time was devoted to this before we could begin. With the wall I was allocated, of the nine paintings I had available, only five could be displayed, something I had borne in mind all along. I would just stick to a simple plan of having a single wall with a row of the five paintings – which I would have to select. It occurred to me that the remaining paintings could be represented just by their videos, as the videos with their audio dimensions stand alone. Jonathan’s curatorial eye envisioned the set up which gave the greatest clarity – five paintings plus their five videos making the clearest visual statement – adding more would have disrupted that clarity.

  • First thing was to prepare the wall, left tatty after the previous displays.
  • Preparing the wall involved first taping the gaps with gummed paper to neaten the surface – the taping took the rest of the day. While it was drying we began to paint other walls in the room to improve the environment as a whole for everyone’s benefit. The painting takes two coats at least (with the gummed tape underneath three coats is better for full coverage) with drying time between of an hour at least, better two. The rest of the day was full of this activity – and the cleaning up/keeping tidy as we went.
  • All in all an exhausting day, especially with the early morning start and long journey.

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