Art F City and Erin Shirreff
It was a shame our meeting with Paddy Johnson was cut short, but we were still able to learn a lot about a different part of the art world. Paddy founded and runs the art blog, Art F City. While I personally have no interest in blogging, it was good to learn about blogs since they often review and critique art exhibits. I appreciated Patty’s honesty when she told us the difficulties or running a nonprofit blog. There are several business components that I would not have thought of before. I think it is smart to delegate certain jobs to outside experts. This way you can be sure the job will be done correctly, and it frees you to focus on the parts you enjoy. One of the best pieces of advice Patty said was to pay attention to when you are excited about what you are doing. For her, the excitement came from writing. She had more ideas for blogging than she ever did while making art. I agree that it is important to recognize when you become flooded with ideas because that is what you are most interested in, and should be pursuing.
Erin Shirreff is an artist who works with the interplay between photography, sculpture, and video. She is interested in the illusion of objects. Erin describes it, as a shadow existence to her pieces possess. For instance her sun prints have multiple exposures, leaving a shadow of the first exposure and her sculptures are completed by their shadows. Also, some of her pieces rely on one particular viewpoint. Her sculpture maquettes are also based on this illusion, since the photographs to not show the back of each sculpture, which is often left unfinished. They also do not describe the scale of the sculpture, adding to the illusion of physicality. Erin explained that the maquetts were in part, inspired by mid century sculptures that were meant to be viewed in the round. These sculptures are now mostly seen in photos. Erin is interested in how much information is lost by replacing the bodily experience with technology. I was reminded of 60s and 70s minimalism when looking at her art. Erin said she is inspired by minimalism, but feels her work still maintains a self-conscious quality because it is handmade and the viewer is aware of the illusion in the piece.
Erin does not think of herself as a photographer because she uses photos more as a means to an end. Even her photos she thinks of as sculptures. She instead prefers to think of herself as an artist, rather than any specific category. She says there's no need to be labeled a sculptor or photographer when there's so many ways to be an artist. She leaves us with these parting words, “do what you want for better or for worse.” Seeing how well that has succeeded for her, I'm inclined to follow her advice!
http://www.erinshirreff.com
http://canadianart.ca/features/erin-shirreff-videos/
