Moves
Editioned Print for Glasgow School of Art MFA Print Portfolio
2015
Moves
Editioned Print for Glasgow School of Art MFA Print Portfolio
2015
“GSA MFA Editions is a limited edition collection of prints, photographs, and drawings from the 2015 graduates of the Glasgow School of Art’s prestigious Masters of Fine Art programme, as well as selected work from acclaimed alumni Laura Aldridge and Ross Sinclair. Each portfolio contains twenty-three original works and is priced at £550 (excluding postage). Please email gsamfaeditions@gmail.com for purchase enquiries.
To onlookers the art world may seem a gilded realm of glamour. There is a deal of truth in this perception, to be sure. The rewards for artistic success can be generous. We have all heard the stories of fabulous wealth and glittering prizes. But this seductive picture masks a more fundamental and less enchanting truth: The art world can be a harsh and unforgiving place. For young artists, in particular, it often demands years of sacrifice, rejection and disappointment before recognition is attained. The instantly celebrated genius is a largely mythological figure. The pursuit of art is, more commonly, an often lonely affair taking place in the solitude of the artist’s studio. The truth is that nearly all artists, at whatever stage in their careers, need support. They need all kinds of help and encouragement: emotional, intellectual, practical – and financial.
This portfolio of prints, produced in 2015 by final year students of the MFA programme at Glasgow School of Art, is not only a demonstration and record of their artistic achievement: it is also a kind of social and cultural document that invites us to reflect upon the value of generosity, support and commitment. The inclusion of prints by former MFA students is itself testament to their own support of younger, emerging artists – artists occupying a position of uncertainty they doubtless recall from their own earlier experience. This expression of solidarity helps to fuel the confidence and aspirations of the next wave. And this next wave will, almost certainly, produce individually successful artists who will lend their support to those who follow. The arrival of success is unpredictable, and it comes in many guises. We cannot foretell which of these newly emerging artists will become successful, or what form that success might take. Some might join their MFA predecessors on the list of Turner Prize winners and nominees. Some might sell their work for vast sums of money. Others may find success in less ostentatious ways, by offering intellectual stimulation, sensory satisfaction, an enhanced sense of identity and belonging. Some will succeed by providing unquantifiable measures of other personal and private pleasures to those who simply value this art on its own terms, irrespective of accolades and plaudits offered by others.
In purchasing the portfolio you thus become a part of this network of support, this extended family of sorts. The money raised by the sale of these fresh and new works will be used to fund a variety of exhibitions and projects (The Glasgow Masters Series) that will help to ease the transition of our young artists from student to independent professional. But you are also, of course, doing far more than this. You are entering a world of pleasure and stimulation, unavailable anywhere else. On behalf of MFA students past and present I thank you for your interest, generosity and support. New futures begin here.
John Calcutt
Acting Programme Leader, MFA”