Pondering on...

LUCY DAY.

Interesting presentation last Monday by curator Lucy Day. Rather lengthy but also much much educational to me. Wow, this is a whole new world to learn about. Important Fact and Information: I haven't sold much of my artworks in my whole "artistic career"..

 

1.Question to myself: Have I met a curator in all my life?

Answer: No, I don't think there even is one in Mauritius.(I mean a qualified one with a background like her) I have met press critics, people who have galleries, however, here in Mauritius "the domestic market" prevails and some people are not even clear about the endorsement process. Interesting words here also as "Instrumentalism" on which I had to do some research.

 

2.Question to myself: As an artist, Where do I stand? What are my expectations?

• Is my work commercial?

• Who is my market?

• Where is my market?

• Who do I need to know?

• Do I need additional skills? 

But I think the most important question to myself is:To what extent should I be concerned about selling my works?

I think I have cornered around this question a long time ago as I had started my BFA course. I knew right then that I was in to something that had completely to do with passion and not at all with money. And I knew right then also that I would NOT be embracing a career as an artist too as opportunities are scarce here. Rather, I wanted to become an art educator to serve people and educate them about art. I am too much of an artist to be a businesswoman (thinking over the "tangible tools"-business cards, postcards, leaflets,etc-these are really nice stuffs,however I do not see myself in them). I also tend to be too engrossed in my art to spend time looking out for and creating apt opportunities to sell my work. To add on, I think my personality has some serious fine-tuning to be done as I am an introvert and I struggle a lot on Making my work visible and to exercise rigour in "documentation" issues.

However, I feel that I have been quite successful in the local context. Whenever there are group meetings between artists, I always get invitation cards and it is always a pleasure to be acknowledged. I also get to participate in one of the major art exhibition which is held here, the "Salon De Mai". I feel fully satisfied to be in the picture. Should I aspire for more?/try to be more ambitious?

My aim for enrolling with the MA course was to be able to understand and tackle contemporary issues. Here also, I am fully satisfied. So I think some of the "Intangible Tools" are here too: confidence in my practice, clarity in direction, Knowledge of my "sector", reputation, networking. However, I really have to work for my "Artist's Statement". The small exercise we conducted made me realise how just some words can have a powerful impact on someone's way of seeing me and sizing me up/assessing me as a professional.

So to end up with, I think as Mark so beautifully said, I will continue on my venture with "making", "better making" and just purely "enjoying my making".