How do artists and creators respond to something like (well...nothing like, really...) the Covid-19 pandemic?
Many of us who are still managing to create under lockdown have responded in different ways to the life changing, even civilization changing Covid-19 event of the last few months. You may have seen Anthony Gormley's bleak clay figurines, Banksy's stencilled rats causing chaos in his bathroom ("my wife hates it when I works from home"), or David Hockney's sunny iPad drawings from his garden.
Many of us who are still managing to create under lockdown have responded in different ways to the life changing, even civilization changing Covid-19 event of the last few months. You may have seen Anthony Gormley's bleak clay figurines, Banksy's stencilled rats causing chaos in his bathroom ("my wife hates it when I works from home"), or David Hockney's sunny iPad drawings from his garden.
Some, like veteran indie musician Momus wrote an entire new album of songs about Covid-19 whilst suffering from the symptoms. Others like artist (and friend of mine from Jerusalem Print Workshop) Andi Arnovitz, finished a body of work called Epidemiology that was actually started last August. And I have just recently realised that the mezzotint I sent to the Royal Scottish Academy annual exhibition earlier this year has as part of the image, a bio-hazard symbol. Coincidence? Probably, but as someone said in Andi Arnovitz's case, "prophetic"?
Either way it does make me realise that what Momus said rings true. The pandemic "puts us all in the same state of existential anguish". Artiste, shopkeeper, delivery guy, health or emergency service worker, job seeker, politician, youngster, oldster or inbetween-ster, whoever. The virus SARS-CoV-2 respects no one.
Ultimately we are only as strong as our neighbour and in the face of so much disruption and suffering regardless of national or tribal boundaries, we could do well to also look out for our neighbours' well-being too.
I have noticed that in the communities where I live and work, many people are rising to the challenge. Whether that is just smiling at the person we see (from more than 2 metres away!) whilst out exercising, or being encouraged by friends and colleagues at Glasgow Print Studio who are volunteering their creative skills and facilities to make much needed PPE's on our laser cutter for front line health and emergency service workers.
Trying not to be too introspective, I wonder if my interest in science will be rekindled by all of this. Coincidentally, I was already thinking of it. As an artist it often takes me quite a while to distil experiences that influence my work. So, for me (and for you too), we'll just have to wait and see.
A bit about the new works including.............
"of Conflict and Resolution"
"of Conflict and Resolution II"
Although these two versions of the same idea re-use some of my familiar images and themes, the line "peace starts with a smile" has perhaps once again become very poignant. The Covid 19 pandemic has shown the fragility of life, whether human or planetary, and that it can hang by a thread.
The angel in the new work seems to be waiting for our collective response to the pandemic. We have the opportunity to review and renew our relationships with others and with the world in which we live. Ahead lies the post C-19 path of conflict, confrontation and business as usual. But ahead also lies a path of resolution, of genuine progress, one that recognises that the world is not the same place it was and that business as usual may really not the smartest option after all.
Top image: detail from the mezzotint "Where Hope Still Burns"
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