Just a few months after the government identified the Arts sector as operating on the edge of sustainability, the pandemic wiped out all art events across the country.
As the great writer Toni Morrison said: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heals.”
Artist Sam Mitchell says: “The impact of COVID-19 is both massive and isolating but also incredibly personal. My new show is effectively cancelled, the Art Fair has been postponed and who knows when I’ll earn again? It’s a hugely worrying time. Does great art come out of great diversity? We’re about to find out.”
Gallerist Melanie Roger: “We see the gallery as a community and our artists as family. For many artists, spending long periods of time alone in the studio is the norm and I know many are planning on using their isolation time in this way. I think we’ll see some exciting work come out of this. In fact we installed Sam Mitchell’s amazing new exhibition just as our government announced the lockdown and will be updating this and what artists are up to – daily lives, studio moments, the ups and downs of our new reality... at least for now.”
“I myself have shifted part of my studio to home where I can make small works, develop new ideas and strategies. I’ve set myself a schedule of what I’d like to accomplish – especially the things constantly postponed by deadlines. As artists did after the Christchurch earthquakes, I would like to see artists take a role in helping the community to recover and heal when we emerge from this crisis,” says Evan Woodruffe. Stay safe! (Evan Woodruffe/Studio Art Supplies)