Stephen Art-East

Forgive me for non-attendence in the world of blog. I fell out of the habit over Christmas and New Year (seems like a world away now)...then my thoughts were so taken up with my show and applicable stresses I've only just got round to it. My mate Dawn has also threatened to strike me from the powerful portal that is her list of 'blogging chums' on her redhairedqueer blogspot if I don't get my house in order... and she means business, that one.

Anyhow, the show is at Nancy Victor Gallery in Charlotte Street in the West End.

I called the exhibition 'Images of Lost Content' which is from A.E. Housman's 'A Shropshire Lad' (or least the 'Lost Content' bit is)... blasphemous i know but being as I'm from Shropshire I felt entitled to use it.

There are some pictures that have already been exhibited, together with some recent ones I have already posted on here, and a set of small Cornish landscapes that I did over Christmas.

Great location, nice gallery, but rotten timing. Quite what possessed me to choose January when I was offered at least two other slots later in the year I don't know... the compulsion to show the work I guess.

The Private View was 5th January... Thursdays are great for previews normally but perhaps not on a freezing cold nite so soon after the holiday season. Perhaps I'm being harsh on myself... as the place was busy with one past-buyer leaving after one minute because he couldn't see the work properly, but only a couple of sales so far, and no press beyond a few nice mentions/listings.

Early Jan is a tricky one and I did have a few 'no-shows' due to people being either ill or hibernating. It was f*cking cold that nite. It's on until early February however so plenty of time for people to drop in.

There is something about showing an exhibition that enables me to draw a line under the work, meaning I'm clearer for the next project, and there's so much I want to do this year that having a show right at the beginning closes off previous involvements. At the I'm collecting copies of books from my childhood that were inspirational or full of meaning for me and I want to use them as the basis for a group of paintings. I will probably recreate the covers of the books as pictures and I think something will develop in the transfer. I also want to film myself in close-up watching certain films and tv shows, some of which I haven't seen for years, but that make me emotionally lose the plot. 'The Snowman' makes me cry so much I can't bear even to hear a small snippet of the music... and as for E.T. well, don't ask. I also want to revisit places. The current show is full of images of Tintagel in Cornwall; I want to go back there and record the experience with photos which then may become paintings. I also want to spend a weekend back at home, and visit places that were monumental for me... the place I had my first sexual experience, my first fag (no pun intended), the first tree I fell out of, the place I had a fight in the street and my Dad had to come out and carry me home kicking and screaming... ( I wonder if the current residents of our first house will let me revisit it??.... ).

I envisage a medium-sized gallery, some paintings, some film, some printed photos... livelier than showing paintings exclusively. I think the work will be more multi-faceted going forwards.