It's tough when there is no brief

Writing blogs is a new thing for me, though I must say I have always loved the act of writing, and as I child I always wanted to be an author – there is something in the process of getting thoughts into black and white that is deeply satisfying, not to mention “grounding” and stabilising for my inner mental landscape too.

But the problem with a blog is that there’s no right or wrong – no client paying me to write it, or, perhaps more importantly, not paying me if it’s not up to standard or not delivered on time

Some early Papershake commissioned work for Oasis Visual Merchandising

Commercial Work is Always to Brief

Most of my commercial work stems from a need, a brief or a problem that needs to be solved; a client has an event which needs X kind of workshop, or there is a shop window that needs to be decorated with paper to tell Y story. This is great because my biggest job here is to understand the brief. That's what I try to do first and foremost with every commercial job I take on - understand the "what" and the "why" behind the client's ideas, and even more importantly, why Origami and Paper are the solution they think is most suited.

Even when a client says, "We have no fixed idea, we'd like you to run with it!", the truth is that there is at least some sense of an expectation, even if it's still deeply sub conscious.

My job is to find out what that is and use that as a starting point and take things from there.

The Problem with a Self-Led Fine Art Practice

There’s no brief for a blog, and no brief for a self-led Fine Art practice

A blog feels so final. Once it's written, it's there on the page and anyone can see it, read it, and then make a judgement about it, and by extension about me, for good or for bad. The outcome could be sometimes interesting, engaging and meaningful but could just as easily be a kind of stream of consciousness, a messy piece of writing that perhaps would be better not to be in the world at all!

With my own visual artwork, it's no different; There is no brief, there is no client, and often there is no end user, except maybe my empty walls, with the finished pieces staring back at me, demanding to know why they were created if this is going to be their life

A snippet of some recent Fine Art work, under my moniker "Michael J Trew"

But Some Artwork demands to be created

But sometimes things simply MUST be created. It's part of my nature to create, and I don't know why that is!

This is why commercial work is so great – I get to create and leave my literal and figurative fingerprints on the outcome, like a kind of signature. Even though the work looks "on brand" for whomever the client it, it also feels like there is a piece of me in it.

When there is no “On Brand” to Piggyback

The Commercial work works because there is a “flow”.

There is a need to meet, and a transaction of creative and financial energy between me and the client.

But what if there is no "on brand" to piggyback?

This flow is less clear with the fine art world, unless you are in the upper echelons and work to commission or have a bunch of collectors eager to snap up your next works, but what if it's all about getting my own work out there, not knowing what questions it will answer, and if it will even speak to anyone at all?

Creating a “Flow” for the Fine Art practice

I think I need to work to create this flow – this healthy stream with some kind of transactional quality to it. Perhaps I could find some local small charities who may be interested in my work – not for a financial incentive, so that I would “get more work” from it, but simply because the work feels meaningful, and meaningful things need to be moving and flowing.

I wonder who these partners could be, and what my next steps would be in finding them? I wonder if they will be in my new city of Brighton and Hove, or further afield. I wonder if they will be charities, health care bodies, or places of education?

I have so much work I love that I want to create a river with – to donate, to give away, to share.

If you’ve read this and are interested in joining with me, drop me and email and we can talk more!

 A mockup of a print from one of my recent works, Phyllotaxis 2.0. The Original still seeks a home wher it can be loved and appreciated!