Joy of Giving - the story behind the piece
Dear Mary,
Congratulations, I hope you are pleased at winning Lot.165 from the Joy of Living charity auction.
I’ve no idea what inspired you to bid for my piece, but I am very happy and humbled that you did, thank-you!
SPOILER: I thought I would write a small piece explaining the idea behind it. I hope it brings your wall some happiness or at the very least a conversation piece; ‘Oh, that, I was drunk and won it in an auction!’
Creative block
Presented with three pieces of A4 card with the instruction ‘do what you want’ is surprisingly daunting: the pressure.
I pondered quietly for weeks. Create something great, magnificent, something worthy! I struggled and consciously ‘binned’ every idea.
Create something that reflects the impact Cancer can have on its victims and those closest to them. That sense of doom, impending uncertainty, fractured, frustration. Splintered. Life pulled, torn, sliced and operated on. Good days, bad weeks. Ups and downs.
I wanted to create something that might inspire hope; companionship; not-on-your-own-ship. I wanted to celebrate Maggies Centres, and the great work they do. I wanted to make a statement.
‘People will forget what you said, will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.’
I’ve quoted Maya Angelou many times. It epitomises the affect I believe Maggies Centres aims to have on those who visit their spaces — a beautifully considered space offering a sanctuary of calmness; an oasis to help take back some control of your life… Providing much needed respite to victims, their friends and family.
Exit Music (For A Film)
I’ve been a fan of Radiohead for over twenty years. I’ve stood in the rain all day to watch them live, listened to them live and more recently watched them live at Glastonbury, on my iPhone, sat in a dark bathroom in a hotel room at Gatwick Airport. I managed to get a copy of their Glastonbury recording after my BBC Radio 6 download expired.
I was sat in my studio starring at the May Angelou quote, bewildered at the challenge of trying to create something that would sit alongside other great designers.
BREATHE
KEEP BREATHING
DON’T LOSE YOUR NERVE
BREATHE
KEEP BREATHING
I CAN’T DO THIS
ALONE
Thom Yorke’s voice pierced through the speaker. That was it. The second quote I would include. A message of despair or perhaps one of support.
Two quotes. Three pieces of paper.
Anxious, anguish, frustation
I’ve indirectly had contact with cancer. Both my father and father-in-law have suffered, had various body parts removed and go on to survive remission; long may they continue to do so.
Many lose their battle, and many more fight for years in and out of varying stages of remission or re-diagnoses; each time compounding the utterly disappointing, frustrating anguish. Another battle, another period of treatment. It goes on.
I decided my third quote needed to be something personal. Something from me, aimed at Cancer itself. What would I say to Cancer if I could? I’d probably write it a letter:
DEAR CANCER,
GO FUCK YOURSELF.
THANKS.
SIGNED,
EVERYONE
It’s all maths (1+1+1=3/1 = 1)
Initial tests experimented with vertical cuts, different fonts. Everything looked splintered and fractured but the messages got lost. So I went crazy. I went from vertical cuts, to (wait for it), horizontal!
Three quotes. Three pieces of GF Smith paper. Three quotes to craft and careful typeset. One Xerox printer. It’s here I leave the end result up to chance a little. ‘Machine serendipity’; what will be, will be spat out by the printer. The part chewed up? Torn? Ripped? Carbon print appearing in places you didn’t plan? Let’s hope so. Best not to plan at all at this stage.
I like to embrace this unknown part of the process. If you want something done perfectly there are ways to do that, but for this message I was happy to let the medium to play its part. I also didn’t want to be too precious with the paper. We can often be too precious over material things (speaking about myself, mainly).
The person at the printers gave me the paper back sheepishly and was overly apologetic. ‘The print ended up on some of the sheets with carbon off the rollers, I’m so sorry, we can try it again’. No, I said. This is perfect.
All that remained was to return to my studio, put a new blade in my scalpel, grab my metal ruler, cutting pad and put on some music.
The end result was my ‘Neapolitan Message’; inspired by Neapolitan ice-cream from my childhood. Three pieces of GF Smith paper. Three messages: joy, hope and inspiration with a subtle, (hopefully) funny ‘fuck-you’ to Cancer.
I hope it brings joy to your wall Mary, and Cancer if you're reading this: go fuck your self, thanks. Signed, Everyone.
Joy of Living
Max Fraser invited over 150 established and emerging designers to create a one-off artwork that expresses the ‘joy of living’, using just three pieces of different coloured paper supplied from the Colorplan range by G.F Smith. The works (signed on the back to preserve anonymity until after the purchase) were up for public bid and displayed at One Poultry building in the City of London. The project aimed to raise more than ￡80,000 for Maggie’s, a charity that helps people to build a life beyond cancer, manage the impact of a diagnosis of cancer and to live with hope and determination. So far they have raised over ￡41,000! You can still donate here.
The brief? From a selection of 12 colours, the designers were each provided with three randomly-selected A4 coloured sheets and asked to manipulate the paper in any manner they desired, and to supply a short text on the inspiration for their piece. The work was signed (on the back), and was displayed anonymously; the name of the creator not revealed until the piece has been purchased. The intention was to encourage an emotional response for each piece and for buyers to fall in love with the art itself, not the name behind it.