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Blackbird Rook

@blackbird_rook

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A studio visit can be a surprisingly loaded thing. The artist may be hoping you buy something. The collector may simply want to look. A curator might be interested, but not in the way the artist imagines. And everyone is trying to work out what everyone else really means.

I’ve been on all sides of it: as an artist hoping to sell, as a fellow artist asked for an opinion, and as an adviser visiting studios on behalf of collectors.
So I’ve written a short practical guide to the studio visit: how to prepare, what to show, how to talk about the work, when to discuss price, what happens if someone wants to buy, what happens if they don’t, and how to follow up afterwards without becoming a nuisance. And perhaps most importantly, how not to mistake warmth, enthusiasm or a good conversation for a commitment.

The Studio Visit, now on my Substack.
https://blackbirdrook.substack.com/p/the-studio-visit

#ContemporaryArt #ArtCollectors #Artists #ArtAdvisory #ArtMarket by @blackbird_rook

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10 days ago

11.04 26.08.26

Image 1. Godzilla, 2003

Image 2. Eau Sauvage, 2006

Image 3. Dawnbreakers, 2008

Image 4. Terminator, 2010 by @blackbird_rook

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2 months ago

For a long time I painted survivalists - reading survivalist magazines, marvelling at that particular American subculture. I was thinking about Survivors on British television too, and setting it against The Good Life - wondering how we might ever end up back working the land again just to eat. Whether that would come through collapse, or through something more progressive - a reordering of what matters. Then COVID arrived and suddenly people were stuck at home, growing tomatoes and baking bread, and it all felt oddly prescient. But real collapse still felt unlikely. Abstract.

Then I used to critique myself for the cowboys in my paintings - especially the series And This, Too, Shall Pass Away. I was uneasy about placing Americans as the survivors, standing over massacres and bodies. I felt foolish in that positioning, as if I’d pushed the blame childishly too far in one direction. But looking at the world now, I’m no longer sure the cowboys were a provocation at all. They may simply have been the most honest part of the paintings.

#gregrook #draf #honyocker #contemporarypainting #thegoodlife by @blackbird_rook

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9 months ago

Two publications now available on my website.
The first is Honyocker – a trade monograph, with texts by Michele Robecchi and Matt Price, published to coincide with a 2019 exhibition in Milan. It’s an overview of that decade of work and an entry point into the themes I was exploring then.
The second is This Too Shall Pass Away, here as an e-book produced to coincide with the completion of the series for the David Roberts Foundation. It’s a reflective companion to the project, bringing together images, notes, and the essay written around the work’s completion.
Both are available under the Books section of my site.

#GregRook #Honyocker #MicheleRobecchi #MattPrice #DavidRobertsFoundation #ThisTooShallPassAway #ContemporaryPainting #BritishArt #ArtistBooks #ArtPublications #Monograph #StudioPractice by @blackbird_rook

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10 months ago

Inside the studio: I reflect on the unseen struggle behind every painting - the ambiguity, contradiction, and failure that give it life. Drawing on artists from Marilyn Hallam to Phoebe Unwin, Clyde Hopkins, Joyce Pensato and Ellen Berkenblit, I explore how good art resists easy meaning - painting as experience embodied - a record of thought made visible.

Read on Substack through @blackbird_rook bio

https://open.substack.com/pub/blackbirdrook/p/inside-the-studio-whats-really-going?r=20xg0r&utm_medium=ios

#InsideTheStudio #BlackbirdRook #GregRook #DiaryOfAnArtAdvisor #MarilynHallam #PhoebeUnwin #ClydeHopkins #JoycePensato #EllenBerkenblit #FrancisBacon #NeoRauch #LucTuymans #AgnesMartin #PeterDoig #WalterSickert #DavidSweet #SusanSontag #JeanCocteau #JasperJohns #ContemporaryPainting #ArtAndExperience @greg_rook by @blackbird_rook

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a year ago

Writing about the thoughts behind my painting. Two TV shows in 1970s Britain imagined collapse in utterly different ways: The Good Life turned it into comedy and lifestyle choice; Survivors into ordeal and necessity. One buffered by continuity, the other stripped bare. Looking back, they foreshadowed how we still wrestle with collapse – utopia or dystopia, renewal or ruin – and how art can hold both in a single frame.

Substack link in @blackbird_rook bio.

https://open.substack.com/pub/blackbirdrook/p/the-collapse-we-wanted-the-collapse?r=20xg0r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

#collapse #utopia #dystopia #thegoodlife #survivors #70sTV #artandpolitics #agrarian #climatecrisis #culturalhistory #pastpotentialfutures #blackbirdrook by @blackbird_rook

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a year ago

Some of you follow me here as an artist - thank you. But if you’ve recently come across my column for @plastermagazine , that work lives under my art advisory and curatorial project: @blackbird_rook

That’s where I share thoughts on collecting, the art world and artists. If that’s what brought you here, or if you’re curious, head over there and give it a follow. That’s where the writing happens.

This space - @greg_rook - is staying focused on my painting.

Thank you for coming along on both journeys.

#BlackbirdRook #ArtAdvisor #ContemporaryArt #ArtWriting #PlasterMagazine #DiaryOfAnArtAdvisor #ArtCollectors #ArtWorldInsights by @blackbird_rook

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a year ago

Communal Wash, 2018, Oil on linen, 46 x 61.5 cm #gregrook #communalwash #contemporarypainting by @blackbird_rook

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2 years ago

Posted @withregram • @blackbird_rook The latest newsletter - exploring the process of buying art through an artist-run advisory.
https://open.substack.com/pub/blackbirdrook/p/the-process-of-collecting-art?r=20xg0r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

See Substack in the @blackbird_rook bio.

#collectingart #artistrun @blackbird_rook #blackbirdrook by @blackbird_rook

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2 years ago

Assembly
3 - 18 May
The Old Gym, Rye Creative Centre, New Rd, Rye TN31 7LS
Preview 6-8pm Friday 3 May, everyone welcome to all events Artist talks 3-5pm Saturday 4 May
Panel discussion 3-5pm Saturday 18 May
speakers include; Matthew Burrows, Paul Carey-Kent, Paul Carter-Robinson, Paula MacArthur & Geraldine Swayne Exhibition continues 10am-5pm Thursday-Sunday & by appointment
Contact assembly.rye@gmail.com

A compelling & timely exhibition curated to reflect the geography of contemporary art practice as artists shift their focus away from the capital.

Assembly Exhibitors
Susan Absolon, David Ainley, Hermione Allsopp, lain Andrews, Amanda Ansell, Tom Banks, Karl Bielik, Claudia Bose, Day Bowman,
Marius von Brasch, Julian Brown, Lesley Bunch, Matthew Burrows, Ruth Calland, Simon Carter, Jules Clarke, Susan Collis, Deb Covell, Lucy Cox, Gordon Dalton, Pen Dalton, Angelina Davis, Jeff Dellow, Lisa Denyer, Natalie Dowse, Rowena Easton, Nathan Eastwood, Geraint Evans, Rosalind Faram, The Baron Gilvan, Luke Gottelier, Susan Gunn, Susie Hamilton, Alex Hanna, Marcus Harvey, Jeb Haward, Vincent Hawkins, Roland Hicks, Suzanne Holtom, Marguerite Horner, Dan Howard-Birt, Barbara Howey, Phil Illingworth, Linda Ingham, Rich Jellyman, Patrick Adam Jones, Peter Jones, Ansel Krut, Bryan Lavelle, Andrew Litten, David Lock, Juliette Losq, Paula MacArthur, David Manley, Enzo Marra, Gavin Maughfling, Donna Mclean, Monica Metsers, Nicholas Middleton, Ruth Murray, Paul Newman, Sikelela Owen, Kim L Pace, Nicholas Pace, Joe Packer, Eugene Palmer, Stephen Palmer, Aimée Parrott, Mandy Payne, Barbara Peirson, Ruth Philo, Alison Pilkington, Danny Pockets, Narbi Price, Freya Purdue, Alessandro Raho, Richard Mark Rawlins, Tobit Roche, Greg Rook, Katherine Russell, Boo Saville, Maggie Scott, Claire Shoosmith, Stephen Snoddy, David Sullivan, Geraldine Swayne, Harvey Taylor, Sally Taylor, Molly Thomson, Ehryn Torrell, Casper White, Joanna Whittle, Sean Williams, Sharon Wylde, Caroline Yates

https://contemporary-british-painting.sumupstore.com/products taken in Rye, East Sussex by @blackbird_rook

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2 years ago

Posted @withregram • @paintbritain Assembly is a compelling and timely exhibition curated to reflect a new geography of contemporary art practice as artists shift their focus away from the capital. Members of the artist-led group Contemporary British Painting come together from across the UK and Ireland with invited artists from Rye and the surrounding counties. Rye is uniquely situated at the mid-point of the creative artery that extends along the South Coast from Brighton to Margate linking important public art institutions, independent, and artist-led venues. Assembly creates a platform for engagement and dialogue with an exciting range of artists whose energy, and significant and diverse histories of making, animate this exhibition.

3 - 18 May 2024
The Old Gymnasium at Rye Creative Centre, New Road, Rye, East Sussex TN31 7LS

Preview 6 - 8pm Friday 3 May
Artist talks 3 - 5pm Saturday 4 May and Saturday 18 May
Exhibition continues 10am-5pm Thursday-Sunday and by appointment
assembly.rye@gmail.com

Exhibiting artists
Susan Absolon David Ainley Hermione Allsopp Iain Andrews Amanda Ansell Tom Banks Karl Bielik Claudia Böse Day Bowman Marius von Brasch Julian Brown Lesley Bunch Matthew Burrows Ruth Calland Simon Carter Jules Clarke Susan Collis Deb Covell Lucy Cox Gordon Dalton Pen Dalton Angelina Davis Jeff Dellow Lisa Denyer Natalie Dowse Nathan Eastwood Geraint Evans Ros Faram The Baron Gilvan Susan Gunn Susie Hamilton Alex Hanna Marcus Harvey Jeb Haward Vincent Hawkins Roland Hicks Suzanne Holtom Marguerite Horner Dan Howard-Birt Barbara Howey Phil Illingworth Linda Ingham Rich Jellyman Peter Jones Ansel Krut Bryan Lavelle Andrew Litten David Lock Juliette Losq Paula MacArthur David Manley Enzo Marra Gavin Maughling Donna Mclean Monica Metsers Nicholas Middleton Ruth Murray Paul Newman Stephen Newton Sikelela Owen Nicholas Pace Kim Pace Joe Packer Eugene Palmer Stephen Palmer Aimee Parrot Mandy Payne Barbara Pierson Ruth Philo Alison Pilkington Narbi Price Freya Purdue Alessandro Raho Richard Mark Rawlins Tobit Roche Greg Rook Katherine Russell Boo Saville Maggie Scott by @blackbird_rook

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3 years ago

Ending on the 28th.
Arcadia for All? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now at the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester.

‘Arcadia for All?’ features work by over thirty artists, including Hurvin Anderson, Andrew Grassie, Lubaina Himid, Matthew Krishanu, Elizabeth Magill and George Shaw. They all approach nature from many different directions, expanding the notion of landscape painting in new, unexpected and sometimes radical and playful ways. Moreover, the exhibition celebrates the vitality and variety of contemporary painting in all its materiality and visual richness.

'Arcadia for All?' closes to the public on the 28 January 2024. All galleries are free entry and open 7 days a week, weekdays 12pm – 5pm and weekend 12pm – 4pm. Thanks to @_lauraclaveria_ and @lulgalleries for helping set this in motion David Ainley @ainley.david - Hurvin Anderson - Iain Biggs -Louise Bristow @lou_bristow - Hannah Brown @hannahbrownartist - Simon Callery @simon.callery - Lara Cobden @laracobden Kimathi Donkor @kimathi.donkor - Sam Douglas @samdouglasstudio - Natalie Dowse @natalie.dowse - Geraint Evans - Mark Fairnington - Andrew Grassie @andrew.grassie Dan Hays - @danhayspurple Lubaina Himid @lubainapics - Barbara Howey- @barbarahowey5715 Matthew Krishanu @matthewkrishanu Paula MacArthur @paulamacarthur_ Elizabeth Magill @elizabethxmagill Cara Nahaul @carazlina Christopher Orr - Rebecca Partridge @rebeccaannepartridge - Julian Perry @julianperry.info - Narbi Price @narbiprice Carol Rhodes - Greg Rook @greg_rook - George Shaw @georgeshaw_artist - Benet Spencer @benet_spencer Clare Thatcher @clare_artist - Judith Tucker - @phoebe.u Phoebe Unwin Joanna Whittle @jowhittleart #gregrook #contemporarypainting taken in Attenborough Arts Centre by @blackbird_rook

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3 years ago