Hey fancy artist! You have an art exhibition coming up. You've planned out the space and how you are going to fill it. You know you have 3 months which means you need to create one artwork per week.
Then! Two weeks out from your show and your perfect planning has been overrun with life. Mainly your need to watch every NBA game live, clean out your winter clothes and anything else to procrastinate.
Here are five quick and easy last minute tips on getting yourself back on track for your art exhibition in two weeks.
Go big. You have a 8m long wall to fill. Whats going to be more time consuming? Thirty little A4 framed original artworks or seven large canvases?
The large canvases of course. You don't have time to paint a massive canvas? Not a problem. Take your concept sketch, scan it in as high resolution (600 - 900DPI print quality if possible) as possible and head on over to your local Officeworks or PhotoBox and print that baby directly onto canvas. All that's needed then are some hand painted/drawn/sprayed embellishments and it's on like donkey kong!
Go backwards. Feeling a bit stale? Struggling to come up with concepts or even the time to sit down and really get into the headspace to manufacture strong concepts? Have a flick back through your old visual diaries, through old sketches, even unfinished works that have been sitting in the bottom of the pile for months. Pull them all out. I guaruntee you will find a few gems that will inspire you to build-on already started artworks.
Limited Edition Prints.
Similar to going backwards, but this time you're looking at your finished artworks. Particularily those that were very popular. As you're a well organised artist, I'm sure you have high resolution photos and scans of your previous creations. Print off some Limited Edition Giclee works and frame them beautifully and offer these prints at the show. If your money tree out the back isn't blooming this season, print just one giclee print and make a note that directs viewers at the gallery to your online website so you can print to order.
Collaborate.
Or should I say delegate? You have creative friends, get them to work for you - have them either start a new artwork for you to finish or visa versa. This cuts down your work time by half (unless your friends are very high-maintenance and need their hand held during the whole process. Dump that friend and find a better one with initiative). An extra bonus with collaborations is that once the artwork is up on display, chances are the collaborating artist will come to the opeing night and will bring their friends and family to show off their collaborative artwork at your show. Little did they know... they've done you more than one favour! Suckers!!!
Live art.
That's it. No more energy. You're done. You have a giant blank wall and you're so tired and exhausted from prepping for the show you simply don't care. You should care! How embarassing! Bring your supplies to the gallery and get working on a mural to cover that blank wall. Don't have time? Why not paint live! I know you should schmooze on opening night but what the hell kind of artist enjoys that? Live painting, filling a big wall, avoiding eye contact and 'what were you feeling when you created this piece' conversations. Bonus!
Yeh, you can thank me later.
For now, this article is not a hint to send your artwork to me for a collaboration. I'm not being subtle. You, on the other hand, sign up to my mailing list so I can contact you for a collaboration two weeks before my next show!
Virtual high-five!
Sculley