seriously though...

Hamish Fulton is an artist currently exhibiting his work in England. Hamish Fulton is 60 and a lifelong sculptor, photographer and conceptual artist though now he describes himself as a 'walking artist'.

I was interested to learn about Hamish Fulton's work yesterday on Radio 4's PM show. Essentially, it entails going on a purposeful journey by foot and returning to the studio to assemble a conceptual representation of that journey. This may comprise a few carefully selected images, symbols or, more incredibly, recordings of certain songs he kept in his head throughout the walk. No, he didn’t play those songs on a walkman or iPod, nor did he admit to singing them as he went but simply repeated the melody over and over inside his head.

Occasionally he will leave his ‘mark’ somewhere along the route and this is recreated for the exhibition.

Now I have no doubt that this is intended to fall into the ‘Is This Art?! What Is Art?’ category – not least because the PM show is a ‘news and current affairs’ programme and not an arts show. This was intended to tease the indignant sensibilities of Mr. Angry of Mayfair and the tabloid hoi polloi alike. Everyone’s initial instinct is to cry rubbish! If that’s art then I must be an artist too!

And therein lies a fundamental truth. Not the obvious, but the counter obvious: Everything is art and therefore we are all artists.

Because art isn’t so much in the creation as in the perception.

Understanding art can be a metaphor for understanding life. Better still, it can be a metaphor for appreciating life because, like art, it isn’t necessary to understand it to enjoy it. In fact I would say to attempt to understand it is often counter-productive to enjoying it.

Especially if you can’t fathom why Tracey Emin’s unmade bed is worthy of the Tate while your own child’s is an utter disgrace. Or how a two hour walk by Mr. Russell could be regarded as mundane, unproductive self-indulgence while the same event by Mr. Fulton awards him both fame and probably not an inconsiderable fortune? I mean, there’s not a lot of material difference here, is there? It has to be the perception.

Of course, it helps immensely if at least one of your appreciative perceivers has contacts in the right places and can start the wheel of fame and fortune spinning… but that is missing the point. Appreciating art is appreciating life is the road to happiness, and that, surely, is more reward than fame and money.

So, when we next get asked to consider ‘Art’, don’t start evaluating it straightaway. Throw out your preconceptions and allow it fill your senses, look on it with wonder. Be inspired. Be the artist. Appreciate what your senses are giving you and love life.

And if you walk, walk slowly and be sure to smell the roses…

[The author is giving up walking for the new year and taking up art instead.]


a chance to post an older walking picture: crossing the ford at duntisbourne rouse