Collaboration

I only made a work with another artist on one occasion – he made the sculpture and I painted it. This was many years ago and I lost track of the piece. Recently I received a cheque, the work had finally sold, but however I did wonder if I had been paid half of the selling price! I first saw the works of Andrew Stewart, Eleonor Friedrich and Ernst Friedrich on the invitation to their London Exhibition. I had always been sceptical about collaboration – who gets to make the final marks? Would I cancel out their good bits? Should I make the last touches and show them how to finish it; dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s?
It came as a revelation on seeing their works at the Sarah Myerscough Gallery in London; they were poetic, mysterious, and fully realised. Each artist had made sensitive unselfish contributions; the works were complete and very beautiful. I must learn to be more trusting.
Prof. John Hoyland RA, London, April 1. 2005