A home visit from Gallery owners: Outsider art, disability, appointments & dog walking

A home visit from Gallery owners: 

Outsider art, disability, appointments & dog walking

It's been a difficult week for creativity in the Kuriologist abode. 
This blog entry will be a verbal ramble. Bare with me.

The week started off just fine with art sculpture related plans with an arranged visit by two gallery owners, Peter Fox and Roselyne Williams from Redwing Gallery Penzance to see my sculptures at my home on Monday. 

Examples of various Kuriology sculptures

Redwing is gallery which specializes in 'outsider' art (or ArtBrut) as I discovered it is also called.  

Mind you I've only just discovered I am what is termed an 'outsider' artist.  

I've always felt more of an 'excluded artist' from the elitist educational establishment led art creative sector & Cornish art galleries in Cornwall.  I find 'most' Cornwall galleries with a social media presence even on twitter ignore even those artists based in Cornwall.  

Kuriology created Assemblage reliquary box

Home Visit from Redwing Gallery proprietors

A big thank you to Peter & Roselyne for taking considerable time & trouble to come out into the rural hinterland of 'here-be-dragons' backwater part of Cornwall where I live to see my sculptures.

I had warned them in advance there were a lot of sculptures.

Having been housebound by my cognitive disability since approx. 2006/07 it has meant almost ten years of quietly in isolation & social exclusion in building up a vast number of sculptures. These items created purely for my own satisfaction, sanity & my need to be creative & doing something constructive.

The 1st thing I think that hit Peter & Roselyne is my study/creative room/living room.  A virtual ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’.  The video below is inside my living room/creative space.

The collection of ‘stuff’ can be a bit overwhelming & in a way is inspirational for my sculptures.  I almost only dust when its deep enough to plough.

Most of my creations have to fit into my perception of a ‘wunderkammer’.  There are literally thousands of objects in my collection, many, many, many of which are my own creations.

There are literally ‘HUNDREDS’ of my sculptures throughout my home.

I took Peter & Roselyne from room to room downstairs, out to the outside studio & upstairs to the ‘storage room’ of DOOM. In the storage room of doom where sculptures are piled high & as many as six or more deep.

It was a delight to me that they appeared to like some of my work, wanting to take pieces with them to Redwing gallery there & then.  Also I was somewhat taken back by the to me high retail art value Peter placed upon some of my work.

Now I have the dilemma.  I have never tried to sell my sculptures previously & I have genuine concerns.

‘WHY’ – because being full time career to my elderly octogenarian mother & limited by my own cognitive condition having such a debilitating & restrictive impact upon my life – I live in absolute fear of the Disabled Hate Campaign policy this Conservative  Government’s runs in their constant & relentless Tory persecution & victimization of disabled persons who are in receipt of disability benefits.

Being in receipt of ESA in the severe disability group I am in theory allowed to do what is termed ‘permitted work’ & still receive ESA disability. 

However, it had previously taken 18 months to even establish from the DWP that they (DWP) could not pre-determine what was permitted work until you had already undertaken it?

Therefore, actively DISCOURAGING any attempt at paid work, even in a very limited capacity, out of the genuine real probability of being DWP penalized & further persecuted by this disabled person hating conservative government so hell bent on further persecuting & victimizing disabled persons.

A real catch 22 scenario.

The end result of the visit by Peter & Roselyne was for me personally encouraging. They seemed to like my Art. They insisted I submit two sculptures for consideration in ‘Alternative– Visions’, a forthcoming touring 'outsider' art exhibition, which I have now done.

I now have to consider whether to try to raise the funds to put on some sort of sculpture exhibition at Redwing gallery.  The problem being I will be terrified of making anything available ‘for sale’ for the reasons already given regarding Anti-disabled persons stance of the conservative government DWP.  The stress of which already has had me in a state of high anxiety. 

The rest of the week has been a round of Doctor's appointment, optician appointment & veterinary appointment for both Tik-ma-dog & the cat.  Each appointment on different days & an exercise in considerable logistical planning & stress. Especially when relying on public transport in rural Cornwall with an elderly & increasingly frail octogenarian mother who now finds it difficult to walk & to accompany her to these appointments.

This has left little time for any creativity or even thinking time about creativity, especially with my also having a loose tooth & all that encompasses in mind jangling pain which jars the concentration process for anything.

Thursday was the exception.  

It was such a beautiful day I just had to walk Tik-ma-dog on a decent extended stomp of several extra miles over the normal mileage, numbed by pain killers for the tooth.  I loose teeth when I'm under stress - I've lost a lot of teeth these past few years.