Andrew Grassie: Document First

Abstract

The following artists pages reproduce five paintings made by Andrew Grassie between 2003–7. They have been selected by the artist and the editors to demonstrate how the documenting of a work of art can become the subject of a work itself. Andrew Grassie was a speaker at Did Hans Namuth kill Jackson Pollock? The Problem of Documenting the Creative Process symposium, Chelsea College of Art, 2007. He wrote in his abstract, “It is true that the ‘Documentation of Artworks’ whether they be my own or other artists has become a central concern in my practice. I will attempt to explain how this has come about and what implications there may be. From my initial awareness of becoming the narrator of my own story, of standing back and painting myself painting, to the creation of implausible exhibitions that never actually existed. I hope to examine how the actual media and technique of working closely from a photographic source correlates to this detachment and comments on the artwork itself. It may touch upon the supposed neutrality of the ‘slavish copy’ within art photography and the position of authorship, or the notion of faking your own work. Further more, the gradual documentation of an artist's work creates a kind of mausoleum for them and a monument to their life's achievement. Aside from the issues of ego and the market's vested interests, there seems to be an appetite from a public's perspective to steal a glimpse behind the art object as if they might capture some of the magical process that goes into creativity. It seems to me that there are more and more ‘preserved’ artists studios and archives around. This ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse has always fascinated me and I may look a little at whether this actually reveals anything other than a hall of mirrors.”

Keywords:

• Documentation
• Painting
• Process