The second series of BBC2’s Show Me The Monet (Lucky Day Productions) ended yesterday and for me it was an exciting 3 weeks (or 15 episodes) mostly because I was featured in it. I did miss series 1 and didn’t even know it was on the telly. If I’d known I would have been just as excited I reckon because I have an interest in art and in reality TV where the lives of ordinary people are transformed by the opportunities they receive from being on TV.
The Private View of Show Me The Monet (credit Lucky Day Productions, BBC TV)
One thing I do know is I am not sure I would fancy being one of the judges. That ‘art is subjective’ is cliched but nevertheless true. What is it that makes one person like something and another not? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (another cliche) but once it resonates with you you make a judgement of discrimination and you opt to like or dislike and if you like it enough you put your hand in your pocket and you make a purchase.
As a recent full time member of the Northampton Town and County Art Society, I was asked to help judge the new entries to associate and full membership. There was no clear criteria so I went along with my gut feeling, did I like it? Was it technically competent, was colour applied correctly etc… I hope I did it justice.
The judges for Show Me the Monet at least had 3 criteria to work with; originality, emotional response and technical skill. Interestingly in art even these are subjective. If I intend to use wobbly lines in my paintings does that make me less technical and if I feel the emotional impact and you don’t does that make it less emotional? No I don’t envy the job of the judges and we have to give them credit; they are experts in their field.
The fact that the application was open to any artist living or working in the UK meant that professionals and amateurs alike were able to apply. I couldn’t help but notice more than once a number of artists were basically told to ‘go back to the drawing board’, ‘you are not ready yet’, ‘come back next year…’ that concerned me a little particulary during my own hanging committee I was told my style of composition made my painting less spontaneous (that bit was edited and this is my interpretation of it), I think if I recall that Charlotte Mullins called it a collage, but what was shown was the advice given to artist Victoria Fan – to loosen up her technique a little. I can understand this sort of instruction being given to art students at college but in a juried exhibition or competition, what is being judged is the end result. At that point the art is what it is…
The Hanging Committee (credit - Lucky Day Prodcutions, BBC TV)
Looking through the history of art we do see artists going through ‘periods’ of learning and self discovery. I can look over my paintings over the years and see loads of changes – good or bad these are part of the learning and self discovery process even for a professional artist. Unless there is a complete radical change, the underlying style will always be there. So is it good to give advice on an artists approach or style? Personally I am not sure that it is – when a child is ready to walk they just get up and start walking and soon they perfect the art of walking. Are the early stages of walking not to be appreciated in their own right? Is an artists earlier work less appreciated than later work? I hope this is a good analogy. There is something to be said for following an artists time line. This is a difficult situation when it comes to judging art – but my feeling is if the art has been presented as a fait accompli then it should be judged on that basis alone under the criteria provided.
Ok all that said what did I think about the series and would I advise artists to apply?. The answer to the second question is a resounding ‘yes’ It is not so much as looking for your art to be critiqued as gaining validation for your art especially if you go further and get selected for the exhibition. There were many great pieces that didn’t make it into the exhibition but it did not stop them from being great and bottom line is the publicity is fantastic for any emerging artist. I would say look at it as a opportunity to show your art to the world… you never know who is looking and one man’s meat is another man’s poison right?
Telegraph Article 7th July 2012 - Credit The Telegraph
I think the days of artists waiting to be ‘discovered’ are long gone and as artists we need to do more to self promote. Fortunately we have the tools and there are many who are ready to help us by doing a bit of the leg work for us. I now run my art as a business and so have to spend equal time promoting my art as I do to producing it. I have been able to avail myself of some fantastic resources like Alyson Stanfield’s book I’d rather be in the studio – a fantastic resource that I have next to my Bible – it is dog eared and full of notes and post it notes but I can’t get enough of it. If you are an artist and you want to self promote and you havent bought this book yet. I’d advise you to do so. For UK artists, it is a little US centric when it comes to resources but the gist is there and it is a very strong gist.
In addition to this, I have bookmarked Katherine Tyrell’s blog – making a mark, Katherine has a great calendar of major UK art exhbitions with all the information you would ever need to help with your self promotion. I have made myself a wall calendar with these dates just so I don’t miss the deadlines. The site itself is an invaluable resource for every artist.
In the two days following the show, I sold one piece of art and was invited by another gallery to take part in a group show in October. I myself had planned a joint exhibition with a colleague in October and the publicity surrounding my impending appearance on the show help me raise the funds we need through a crowd funding website.
I would find it difficult to understand why any artist would feel the show was not worth doing. Publicity is good; hiding in your studio waiting to be discovered is not good, saying art is about creating and not sales or shows in my opinion is quite frankly delusional. If you want to make it as a full time artist then you have to stick your neck out a little bit. The judges on Show Me the Monet were forthright but not cruel and at the end of the day we still have to remember the production company are trying to make good entertaining TV as well. The BBC have recognised the dearth of good art programmes on TV and this arguably could be the beginning of a very good series. There are arguments perhaps for a change of format but probably a topic for another discussion and overall sales at the exhibition were pretty poor but again the subject for another discussion. All I can say is for me it was worth the monet. I think pushing it to a prime time slot would be the cherry on top.
The Big Reveal with Chris Hollins (credit Luck Day Productions, BBC TV)
I have to say I totally agree with your post. The judges were professional and knew their stuff. But we can never get away from personal preference,socio- political influences when it comes to art.I mean…to me that embroidery artist that had that film thingy…well.. nuff said. You looked good and confident and I’m more than proud of you!
Ofo
Many thanks indeed. It was nerve wracking stuff but definitely worth doing. I think you make my point that you did not have too much track with the film depiction but clearly the artists did and is back to that age old question which will never be answered to anyone’s satisfaction – ‘What is art…’ It all comes from within. Thanks for watching the series. @
Bravo for your appearance on Show Me The Monet, Anne. Was so thrilled to see you get past the haging panel and into the Mall Galleries. Was so surprised you didn’t sell, but it has been great exposure for you. And I caught a few sneak peaks of your art on the walls at the Exhibition in the episodes leading up to yours; just shows how much you stand out! I think the sky is the limit for Anne the Artist – best of luck planning your exhibition and thank you for sharing your journey with us! 🙂
Cheers Amy and thanks so much for your support and dedication, tweets, retweets etc… Getting to the show was the icing on the cake, selling would have been the cherry on top but more important is the opportunity to open my art up to the world. I want to be a good full time artist and that is the journey I am on. I am writing about it in my book ‘Dancing With Crocodiles’ and also blogging about it.
This is a good article you have written about your experience with the programme. For me there is something ‘cheap’about the whole thing which is hard to put my finger on. Perhaps its the whole professionalism of the event, I’m not sure. The programme is called ‘Show me the Monet’ which leads the viewer to get excited about art as money and fame. But while there is an attempt to bring money – What price are you putting on this piece of art? into the discussion it really doesn’t work. This in itself creates a confusion and a wrong starting point.
Again the criteria are to a large extent meaningless and in the end the great arbiters of taste vote on what they like and what they don’t like. What they know as experts comes over as arbitrary and in the end meaningless. These are the people who stand at the gateposts to a coveted art world, but one wonders as the series goes on whether there is anything in this desirable church of money. Are the paintings that passed through the door really ‘real art’ or is real art just another metaphor for fame and money.
You are from Africa and I was in Africa as a child. The Africa I rememember was full of art…festivals, hair does, carvings, signs. Art, in my memory was part of the life and integrated into human activity. This for me is the true meaning of art and not some kind of discrete activity by the few. Art surely is in the wrong place in western society.
Again a
rt in the west has been carved up into separate categories. Silver is ornament, illustration is not art, decoration is not art,too worked on, not worked on enough, too personal, not enough of you in it…the list is endless, come back next year to see if you’ve made the grade…our grade.
Thanks so much Isabel for your comment on my blog. It is quite profound and heartfelt and I totally feel your sentiment. I guess like every vocation; medicine, law, teaching etc art has found a place. There is a course curriculum and we learn the basics and the rest comes from within. So like any vocation I guess artists have to make a living and that is where the money comes in and the valuation we place on our work. So if the viewer likes it or sees value in it they pay for it and life goes on. This has gone on for centuries – artists were employed in the court of kings and queens and rich and affluent people paid for portrait sittings etc…
The programme intro mentions the large amounts of money that art has sold for over the years and at the end of the day the idea was to end up in an exhibition, sell your piece, validate yourself as an appreciated artist and life goes on… I am not sure I am defending the programme but coming from a perspective of understanding but I am biased, I made it into the show and even though my piece did not sell, I had the opportunity to show my art to the world at large. You are right the criteria could come across as meaningless but I would probably call it hazy, vague, nebulous. But it is difficult. The art has to resonate with someone and the judges were chosen for that purpose. As an artist I have put in for juried shows and competitions, sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t. I put that down to who was judging it on the day. The painting I submitted – Harbour Market at Elmina II has actually won an award at the Society of Women Artist’s annual competition and I was presented with my award by Princess Michael of Kent. It passed the juried submission process at the SWA but only just made it through to the Show Me the Monet Mall Galleries exhibition on a knife edge. Need I say more?
Art intrinsically comes from the heart and is all around us. You are right – it has been pidgeon holed; craft, ornamental, illustration (I think David Lee called mine tourist art – whatever that means) and experts have the tendency to give advice (which personally I don’t necessarily agree is the right approach) but it is emotion led it has to be emotion led. The alternative is to feed a bunch of data into a computer and let it print you a bunch of results. Art is subjective. The discussion will continue ad infinitum ad nauseam.
Terrific post Anne – it’s great to have an insight from somebody who has been through the experience
Can I say I was also impressed with your artwork and if I’d been on the panel I would certainly have chosen it!
I’m intending to do a follow up post to “Show me the Monet” which attempts to summarise the messages.
Thanks Katherine, I also want to do an analytical excercise on the number of pieces submitted compared to the number of pieces that were sold and how they relate to the judges votes. Not sure why I want to do this but I do have quite an analytical mind – it might be interesting.
I wonder if the BBC would give us access to the data?
There is enough here http://www.showmethemonet.tv/artwork-show6.php