ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION? TICK.
It has happened.
In my penultimate year of annual study at Browne School, I've taken a step beyond my studio, into the Art World. Good timing, I reckon.
I am very proud to have been invited to join a diverse stable of visual artists brought together under the banner of artfull.co.nz.
One of Artfull’s mandates is to make artwork accessible to collectors. During lockdown, this meant bringing art into people’s homes via our devices. As we enter a post-pandemic world, this also means making it easier to add pieces to your art collection that don’t cost thousands of dollars. Importantly - because this is my mandate too - it also means introducing people to the joy of art collecting, full stop.
SO, HOW DID I GET HERE?
Well, riding the wave of enjoyment which accompanied my first ever solo show at the School of Modern Meditation this year, I reached out to the newly launched and live Artfull.co.nz. Not to say REPRESENT ME, but to say Hey, come see my exhibition. I'm serious about this journey and I'm someone to watch.
Such confidence, right? When Jess Agoston, Director of Artfull, invited me for coffee and asked if I wanted to be, in her words, an "Artist with a Capital A" by joining the Artfull team, I said Hell yes! Then I was hit with a wave of impostor-syndrome-like doubt which always comes with taking a bigger step than I'm used to into exciting but slightly unfamiliar territory. Territory where, crucially, other people might be watching.
I have a habit of doing this to myself.
Artfull is an online platform for the most part, but Jess' intention is to bring our work directly into the real world via pop-up exhibitions in unconventional spaces. Artfull also exists to engage "the public" (ie YOU) by providing video interviews and content which bring you closer to the artist and their process, and by hosting artist talks in collaboration with other creatives such as designers and creative solopreneurs.
When I was invited to join Artfull, I didn't even have what I would call a complete body of work but an opportunity to create one arose soon enough, with two pop-up exhibitions, Artfull-style.
MY FIRST ARTFULL SHOW - Confetti at Arcadia
My first foray into the Artfull world was in October with a group show called Arcadia, a pop-up art event inside the Queens Arcade in downtown Auckland. Our show-inside-a-show “Confetti” brought together work on paper by a cluster of Artfull artists, Because I’ve made nearly everything on paper this year, it was the perfect place for me to start my Artfull journey.
MY SECOND GROUP SHOW - Dancing With Myself
In my Artfull collection online are some framed artworks currently on display in a group show on Waiheke Island. This is yours truly with our host Andrea Shepperson, who has opened her private education centre up to act as a gallery for us (her students are pretty lucky!) I'm even hiding a SOLD dot.
Success.
Based on the provocation “Who are you as an artist?”, the exhibition is an opportunity to see an explosion of local work, gallery-hung close together, a feast for the eyes (see below). Held at Andrea's Shepperson Centre near Matiatia, Dancing with Myself is on until early 2023 and can be viewed on selected Open Days. More info to come about that. In the meantime and especially if you’re not in Auckland, you can view the entire collection here.
Having representation by an organisation in line with so many of my core artistic values is immensely satisfying. I’m in the company of some of my tutors and my fellow artists make exciting work. Once I hit Post on this blog, I'm off to an Artfull event at Zenith Interiors in Parnell, a conversation between their design team and Artfull artist Bonco. Artfull work has been brought into the offices and - I know I'm biased - we make the place look even better.
These are my people now.
Artfull is predominantly an online gallery (and fantastic book store) offering artwork for sale across the visual arts spectrum, from sculpture to photography to painting and more. Jess' intention beyond the digital interface is to bring our work - and the artists who make it - directly into the real world and into collaboration with audiences. Via pop-up exhibitions in unconventional spaces, artist talks, and hosting interdisciplinary conversations with other creatives such as designers and creative solopreneurs, Artfull aims to expand beyond the Art World.
I'm looking forward to my opportunity to enter that conversation (verbally anyway - my art's out there beyond my own online store now - more news coming on that front shortly too...).
You can see all of my work on the Artfull website here.
xAB