Work Experience Day 5

Early start again today, trucks needed to be loaded with paintings, crates, tools and ladders. One team was off delivering works to a gallery and the other was packing some sculptures for an artist. I helped load the trucks and made everyone tea (again). After that it was more packing, again paintings, then getting the space ready for a visitor. A crate arrived and I used a pump truck (a wheeled trolly for moving heavy objects). You pump the handle and the base raises to take the weight of the object then pull it to where its going, then lower the base again and pull out the truck.

There was a visitor from Miami to check some works that had been shiped and I helped out, using an electric screwdriver to open the crates.

The guys have given me some more time to take photos and catch up with my blog. later I'm going to sit down with Martin (the director) and go through it.

The artist I saw today was John Gerrard (images at top). He uses the same technology and graphics as game designers to make video installations but where usually only one thing happens or they are in real time rather than fast action edits.

Work Experience Day 4

Today I spent all day working with Lester, again packing pictures. This was framed photographs and unframed canvases. The framed photographs were already in bubblewrap. We put a thick layer of polythene over this to make a cushion.


If it was travelling anywhere the glass would have been taped so that if it smashed it would stick to the tape and not damage or tear the photo.

With the canvases it was again acid free tissue and polythene. Today I concentrated on learning the folds and tucks.

First you cut the plastic to the right size. They use a large packing table (a ping pong table which folds up and can be moved). It has a hard flat surface with a soft blanket covering.





The wrap has to be tight to to make sure that no dust or dirt gets in. It makes it easier and safer to handle, less likely to be knocked. Also Lester told me that it provides a buffer for changes in temperature. The most important conditions to watch for paintings are temperature and humidity. Too hot or cold, too damp or dry and the picture can crack with the paint falling off or spliting. The ploythene stops fast changes in temperature or humidity, and its the fast changes that make cracks. If its very humid the back of a canvas can absorb water and it'll get baggy, then when it drys out it'll get tight and this change might make the paint come off. It's hard to guage because so many artists use different techniques and mediums to work with and the different materials react together. The best option is to prevent damage with good care and conditions. Someone told me about a painters work on which the oil paint is so thick it will never dry in the middle. Also someone who wants the paint to slide off because of the marks it leaves.




This image shows the back of a canvas. The Canvas is stretched over the wooden frame (stretcher) and pulled tight and stapled. The stretcher keys (the wedges) can be pushed in to force the wood apart and make the canvas tighter.

Towards the end of the day I was able to spend some time taking shots around the warehouse. I was looking at the types of cases and packaging but also the labels. I also took some shots for my own work. see below.

Work Experience Day 3

Today was split into two parts. I was at the warehouse really early (7am) to help load the tools on a truck. The guys were going out on a 'speed hang' where they had to hang 40 works in only a few hours before a show opened. There is a lot to take, tool kit, fixings for as many different picture frame and wall types as needed, ladders, spirit levels, drills and a percussion drill for hard walls. They thought the hang was pressurised and I couldn't go along. I made everyone tea then had a break.

Next I helped Martin with IT. We set up a work station, computer and router for his colleague. This is a work station for the warehouse where all the logging in and out of items happens. They use a program called filemaker to log the details of the artworks and all the dates in and out, also the details of the description of the package and if there are special requirements. A lot of the works have 'condition checks' when they come in. That is a written description of the object, notes if anything is wrong with it, plus photos.

Two conservators came in to work on some paintings. This was minor repairs, I think they were filling in losses on old pictures, matching the original colours and cleaning them, taking off the dirt from the surface. We moved the works for them, they were all in wooden travel frames. This is a shallow wooden frame into which the painting is fixed with brackets or metal plates. When it's going out it has polythene taped over the front for protection. There are handles at the sides and everyone said they're easier to move than if the work was in a crate and safer than just what the call a 'soft wrap' that's polythene and tissue or bubblewrap or jiffy ( a thin soft foam).


The works I saw today were By Gary Hume (top - but not this one of michael jackson) and Peter Phillips (again I couldn't take a shot of the one in the warehouse so the illustration is from the internet).

Gary Hume is a painter and sculptor who uses enamel on board or aluminium sheets to make flat, colourful and kind of graphic paintings.

I preferred the Peter Phillips, they were very large shaped canvases, painted in oil paint, they are pop art from the 1960's, one with a life sized car shape coming out the bottom edge and a full sized eagle.

Work Experience Day 2

This morning everyone was clearing up for a client visit. Someone was coming to look at work they had in store. I had to hoover the carpets in the photography space and in the small viewing room. I swept the floor and helped someone sort out tapes and types of foam into diffrent boxes. The foams are used in packing, to protect the art from vibration or shocks if they're in a crate, but also to stand the paintings on so they're off the floor. The other guys were putting works away in racks. They said the number of works on the floor builds up and every so often they take the time to put everything away. I also helped with the maintenance of one of the railings by using allen keys to tighten all the bolts. It's part of safety checks.

In the afternoon I learned how to wrap paintings. I worked again with Lester, on works by the artists John Latham. We used polythene and acid free tissue paper. The works wer'nt simple canvases. They consisyed of a wooden stretcher (the support for a painting) with canvas stapled to it. But the canvas didn't fully cover the stretcher and had been pulled and knotted in the middle. (I've taken photos of the pack and will load them up tomorrow).

I've learned that John Latham was a conceptual artist who died in 2006. He was interested in conflicts and violence and religion. He cancelled a work he made in 2005 for the Tate Gallery where he put the Bible and Quran in sheets of glass because he thought that after the 7/7 bombings in London it might result in violence.

Work Experience Day 1

Blue Apron Transport (Fine Art) are a company that store, transport, install, pack and photograph art for Galleries, Private Collectors and Museums. It's a pretty quiet place, there arent big signs or anything it's quite discreet. My job is to help around in both the warehouse and on studio visits to collect or deliver art.



First off I was given a pair of steel toe capped boots, high vis vest and gloves. The boots I'll need all the time for safety, the vest for use on the truck or in the loading bay (but not in Galleries or Artist Studios), the gloves if I help handling cases. I had a safety talk on fire and on how to lift carefully. I'll always be working as part of a team so I've been told to only move the artworks with another person. That's not just me it's everyone because everything is so valuable and often very fragile. Later I went out in a truck to the studio of the artist Eileen Cooper.


She's a painter, (see above), we delivered three works (canvases on stretchers she had stored in the warehouse) to her studio, which is part of her house. Lester, an art student working at Blue Apron showed me how to tie off the painting in the truck. It's important not to damage the work which was wrapped in plastic. A Blanket went over the face, then one end of the tie is tied to the rails on the side of the truck, pulled across the picture then tied around another rail, There's a special knot which I'll try to get a shot of on another day. You have to watch the other person all the time so you lift in the same way. No one does anything in a hurry. The only obstacle was Eileens dog.


In the afternoon I worked in the warehouse. We had to locate works for delivery and collection next day. Everything is logged on a database with descriptions of the work and the packaging. Everything has a number. Different works need different types of packaging, some are only plastic and acid free tissue, some are in heavy wooden or metal cases. Mostly the cased works are travelling to other countries orwill be going on long truck journeys as part of a large load.
We listed the works and made out the collection and delivery notes, then logged the works out on the database.


Another artists work I saw was Tessa Farmers 'Swarm'. I didn't see it installed, although it was set up here last week for the Saatchi Gallery to test in a new case and photograph. It's made up of dried out bees and dragonflys with tiny winged skeletons riding on their backs. They normally hang from threads but now they're attached to a perspex sheet for transport. I'll be helping to make the box for them later in the week. One of the guys told me the artist is coming back when the flying ants come out in Bermondsey, she's going to collect the dead ones for new work.





The warehouse spaces have to be kept clear and are regularly tidied up and works put away in racks. I think first off tomorrow I'll be helping the guys clear up.

T Shirt idea 1

If you've been to Covent Garden or Forbidden Planet on a Saturday afternoon you'll know what I mean.

IPC Building (is anybody there?)

The IPC building is off Upper Ground St in Waterloo and has been empty for about two years now. Strangely, when fireworks go off on the Southbank, it lights up the windows and it looks occupied again. It used to be offices for magazines like Zoo, Nuts, car and fishing magazines and homes and gardens. It's still supervised by security staff but the windows are grimy and graffiti'd. It's a really cool space. The skateboard kids are using the grounds for jumps and the free runners and bmx'ers also. This is the second time I've tried shooting there and quite like the results.


Just using my digital Samsung NV5 (7.5 megapixel) and a tripod on a really sunny day so there's strong shadow and the dirt on the windows looks sharp. Been thinking about the film Pulse and the empty grey shots of Tokyo with subtle ghostly images, but also the concrete and glass and relections and graffiti from games like GTA, Skate and Skate 2.





I used a skylight filter to cut down the glare. I'm intretested in the abstract spaces that the odd relections, dust and shadow produce. They'd work really well in a film or game which needed edgy deserted locations. The limited colour is also really cool, you end up concentrating on texture and tone. This would help characters stand out.


On the image above I've used photoshop to layer one of my IPC shots with a screenshot I took from Pulse. The Pulse image is at 35% opacity and fits in well, it's a lot softer than the dirt on the window and matches the soft reflections of the road.


This last shot (above) I took by putting the lens right up to the window to cut out the grime. It's a bit soft but sometimes digital can be too sharp. Sometimes the games environments are way too hard (skate 1 was way better in look to skate 2, they've cleaned up all the dirt). I thought this shot worked ok with the light from the windows being soft. It was strong afternoon light outside but when you peer in it looks more like evening inside, a lot of light is reflected off the dirt. I'll try to get inside, I'll see if the security guards are ok to talk or maybe call the number on the board. This has to be another summer project.