After working flat out for the few months, whether it was on events, or in our “9-5’s”, it was definitely time to recharge our batteries. But not by going on a mini break somewhere exotic (as nice as that would be), but by getting the creative mind flowing again. Easier said than done.
One of the most popular pieces of advice about attempting to seek inspiration is to do something you wouldn’t normally do. For example, if you’re a chef, go to the Royal Flower Show; if you’re a sculptor, go and watch a play, and so on. It’s great advice, so with that, a few weeks back, I held back from going to a sneaker event called ‘Crepe City’ for a couple hours and instead went to Damien Hirst’s new space, The Newport Street Gallery, in Vauxhall, South East London.
Ever since this space opened last month, I’ve been intrigued by it – one of the most wealthiest living artists putting £25 Million of his own money up to create and curate exhibitions with artworks he owns, with artists who might not have been given such a platform. It interested me because I often wonder, as I’m sure a lot of you do, about if I was super rich – would I be swimming in cash, Scrooge McDuck style, or would I focus on passion projects and see the cash as creative freedom to do whatever the hell I wanted? I would hope it’s the latter, but you never can tell.
Currently, the gallery is showing “Power Stations”, a collection of paintings by the artist John Hoyland, a relatively popular artist who Hirst had an affinity for and died in 2011. Hoyland was trained in a fairly conventional way in the late 70’s, which was replicated in his early work that related to form and structure as shown below.
I love what happened to his work in the later stages of career, the early 80’s. Being inspired by the work of Mark Rothko as well as jazz, his work became more fluent and free flowing and, in my opinion, much more interesting.
The centre of these paintings is where the impact is, but I found myself continually drawn to the outer parts of the pieces, the flick of a wrist that created a cluster of various shapes and patterns.
It got me thinking right back to events, in that, the event itself is going to be the thing, where the impact is. However, you can still create a lot with the periphery, and that is what is exciting and where innovation lies. Engaging with other senses, placing surprise elements that challenge the audience and allowing interaction to take place are some of the ways that what happens around an event is as important as what happens within the event.
A co-founder of an events company checking out an arts gallery – highly recommended. Let us know your places of inspiration in the comments below.
You can, of course, check out the Newport Street Gallery website for opening times and see it for yourself.
Until next time.
Anthony Andrews is the Co-founder of We Are Parable, an experiential events company that helps you stand out. Follow @weareparable on Twitter or visit www.weareparable.com for more information.
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