One of the pleasures of being in this situation is the opportunity to sit and enjoy looking at Dave’s artwork.
When Dave died my first thought was to do a quick inventory of his work simply to discover what we were dealing with. It wasn’t easy because the paintings, drawings, sketchbooks are piled into the rooms of the studio and a lot is unreachable without moving other work and there simply isn’t any space left to move things to. Plus the work was all mixed up with art materials, books, research notes, medications, old papers, dust… Anyway it took me a couple of months to log what I could. I listed nearly 15,000 pieces of artwork but I hardly looked at any of them as it was simply a matter of counting, noting the medium, and taking a measurement.
But now I’m going through things slowly, photographing and adding them to the Artlook inventory. Most of them I'm able to take home and note them in comfort. I’m logging their condition as well as size and medium. I have to touch each one, and look at it. Some recall the period I stayed with Dave and bring back memories; some are completely new to me and fill in gaps in my knowledge of his life and work. Many are just sketches and scribbles but a surprising number are substantial and impressive and exciting. Look and touch these and the worries about dry rot and storage fade away.
When Dave died my first thought was to do a quick inventory of his work simply to discover what we were dealing with. It wasn’t easy because the paintings, drawings, sketchbooks are piled into the rooms of the studio and a lot is unreachable without moving other work and there simply isn’t any space left to move things to. Plus the work was all mixed up with art materials, books, research notes, medications, old papers, dust… Anyway it took me a couple of months to log what I could. I listed nearly 15,000 pieces of artwork but I hardly looked at any of them as it was simply a matter of counting, noting the medium, and taking a measurement.
But now I’m going through things slowly, photographing and adding them to the Artlook inventory. Most of them I'm able to take home and note them in comfort. I’m logging their condition as well as size and medium. I have to touch each one, and look at it. Some recall the period I stayed with Dave and bring back memories; some are completely new to me and fill in gaps in my knowledge of his life and work. Many are just sketches and scribbles but a surprising number are substantial and impressive and exciting. Look and touch these and the worries about dry rot and storage fade away.
I am so glad that Dave's work will be so lovingly saved and sorted for a wider audience to appreciate. I'm also grateful to the members of the trust for taking on this mammoth task and I'm sure that others whose lives have been enriched by knowing Dave, including ex students like me, would be willing to undertake any tasks that could help.
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ReplyDeleteHi Valerie - I appreciate you comment and offer of help. We've been really touched and amazed by the amount of support we've had in preserving and beginning the (long) process of enhancing Dave's reputation. Keep your eye on the blog - I'll post if and when we need help. Regards Bob
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