dear mrs flux,im not on any high horse ,which is why i do say ABOLISH THE ARTS COUNCILL!...you know -if you want funding?why dont you sell your f***ing ponys???its for the very reasons i expressed above its an unelected quango who answer to no one and perpetuate privellege and class division let them eat cake,and let the operas,orchestras,and acting schools die.

I know I said at the start of this question I said that there are better routes, but I cannot belive when I come back to read there’s talk of getting rid of the arts council.

“no great art form has ever come from governments its always been private;let the markets,private dealers,banks rich individuals“

Shaw I have only one thing to point out to you, education. Who funds the colleges who educate all the artists, fashion designers, photographers, graphic designers, journalists etc? Private school’s or the public sector?

I’m the Art director for the Fashion & Textile Museum so I do know how difficult funding bodies can be, but at the end of the day it’s better to have them than not to.

IN THE EVENT OF A NUCLEAR WAR THIS HOSPITAL WILL BE TURNED INTO AN ART COLLEGE!abolish the art colleges to- and for the same reasons as above,anyway are not these colleges now self-financed from the massive fees charged to oversees students?and if they are not already independent its got nothing to do with the state/government whose funding would be better spent on hosptal beds than furthering elitist and neaurotic notions in chattering class theraps and academic monsters.

OK Then. I completely forgot about this posting, as doing it while rather bloody pissed but after reading it back I am actually rather surprised that I managed to get both my frustrations with sebastion and with the west country in general down on paper, or computer , and also in a manner which was understandable.
In reply to sebastion I think it has to be said that you seem to have an idea that you are competing with the big boys so to speak but in effect you are simply pretending that anyone who has the power or predilection (sp?) to further your career will very possibly never see your work,which they really wont, and if they do I'm afraid that you will be so aware of tyhem that they will not be interested simpy because you are not doing it naievely.
What it came down to for me was that I had been very intersted in a variety of media from a young age and therfore was not particularly naieve. anyone from further up the country who saw my work perhaps thought i was a little jaded, and anyone from down there thought i was too caught up in something they didnt get. the two places are very different and the required understanding and aesthetioc are also very differnt. bloody hell, this is making less sense than when i was pissed, oh well. what im trying to say is stop trying to compete or be influenced, make something your own. you have chosen to live and work down there, that is something i could never do because although very beautiful and incredible relaxing I found living in cornwall incredibly stifling and devoid of inspiration. but that is me personally. If it does inspire you then create work that is based on that alone, not based on a cross between that and the pages of fashion magazines. another thing is that the magainzes that you CAN get your hands on down there arent the best ones. I dont really know what i am trying to say, i wish i could see your work and know more where you are coming from.
I dont really do fashion photography anymore, i used to do some, and do occasionally for friends that are designers, but only because they dont tell me what to do, they trust my aesthetic and let me run with it. i was never that cut out for fashion because i would meet up with a stylist and have all idea's and then turn up on the day and decide we were doing something totally different, we werent doing eastern europe, we were doing ethnicity in an urban context. (just one of the shoots that had the stylist walk off, thank you to emily if you read this, you saved my life, again.... I have found taht editorial with text is much more intersting because you still have the option of course to stylise what you are photographing but you also get to tell a distinct narrative story, and have more of a lasting effect on people. I often think about doing stories on Cornwall but for now it scares me to go back. what a bloody boring rant. sorry, er I should finsih this off with something positive and of at leats some interst to you sebastion, ...........................ARTSMATRIX. thats a good one. googlwe it and get signed up to the news letter if you arent already. they are brilliant, very helpful, lots of funding opportunities, jobs, worklshops etc.
Um also, like what your saying ben, really interesting points of view. I agree pretty much with every word.