Changes and continuities

The academic year is rapidly drawing to a close. Several people have asked me recently whether I think my practice has changed by going to Massey. I think the short answer has to be yes.

The biggest change has been a change in focus from painting to drawing. I've abandoned colour. I've been finding drawing much more immediate than painting, much more focused. It doesn't have the distractions of paintings, such as paint treatment – the idea conveyed and the way it's conveyed are much closer together.

And then there's the Adam show. There are several aspects to that work that are a change to my practice. Scaling up is one – it's easily the biggest work I've done. Working directly on the walls is another, and related to that is having to deal explicitly with both the physical and institutional context of the work. It's opened up several avenues to work through.

Then there's the getting heavily into Nietzsche, though I suspect I would've done that anyway. The time is right.

I also think I've covered more ground than I would've otherwise. Being able to focus on making art full time has been very important. Even a part-time day job is quite an imposition.

Another benefit has been having to defend my approach against a variety of people coming at me from different angles. I haven't suddenly become a contemporary-focused socially engaged video artist or anything (perish the thought!), but I have had to question several assumptions, which is always a useful exercise, and which has quite directly led to the focus on drawing.

All in all, I reckon this going to art school lark has been a very good move. Hopefully, they'll have me back next year!

And, yes, I will let you know the results of my assessment as soon as I know.