Hi everyone
Got to tell some folks who'll understand (my wife and friends have all given me that slightly condescending pat on the back as if to say "at his age, does he really thinks he's going make a career out of this?") but at last, after five years of slow improvement, some of my work is going to be shown in a serious gallery space - and not just one but two different galleries, each with separate work.
I've had some urban studies accepted for a big mixed media exhibition at the Laing Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne called 'Northern Spirit' and I've also been successful at getting my work chosen for a group show of 36 photographers at the EASA Gallery in Manchester in a show curated by MUSEA (the Manchester University Society of Emerging Artists) and sponsored by Ilford. This exhibition, '36exp' is based on the concept of showing the work of 36 artists and their 36 contact sheets with the idea that the contact sheet should relay some kind of meaning, narrative or artistic concept around the number 36. I chose to take photographs of 36 houses each of them numbered ‘36’ in their particular street, along with the men, women, couples and families who live in them. Here's a link
http://36exp.visualsociety.com/ and some of the photography featured in the press release looks like really good stuff.
I feel quite shocked to be in such company but its really thrilling to have your work recognised by someone else, especially when previously the only people to have commented on your work are family and friends who've smiled appreciatively when they look at the prints you've made for them as Christmas or birthday presents, but which for some reason never seem to make it onto a wall anywhere obvious in their houses?
If anyone lives near to either Newcastle or Manchester and wants to meet up at the private view evenings (whatever they are?) send me a message and come and join me for a canapé.
Graham
