I was watching The Big Deal, the new programme with Steph McGovern on the BBC, and I came away with more thoughts than will fit into one episode. Most of them can wait. Today I want to use one thing from it, because it landed directly on top of something that comes up in my membership every single week.
An artist has made a body of work. It went out once, into one exhibition, and it didn’t sell. Now it’s in the studio taking up space, and the question arrives in one of three forms. Should I auction it off cheap? Should I give it away? Should it even be on my website anymore?
So, three questions, and every one of them is a plan for getting rid.
It is interesting the speed at which the artist brain goes to disposal. The work has been out once…. and already the conclusion is that it’s spent, it’s evidence of something that didn’t work, and that the fastest way back to feeling alright is to make it disappear. And underneath that is something bigger – artists hate the idea of selling.
