Installing the work of my friend Matthew Miller in a gallery in Lille was a strange affair. The last time that I had done so, it was with Matthew; but now he is absent, only present through his work. The responsibility of making sure that the work was presented to a standard that Matthew would have insisted upon was palpable, it was a sad occasion but I felt strangely re-connected with him through the simple expediencies of choosing glue, aligning the video projector and paying attention to the minute detail that a white cube forces on you.
During the trip I became aware that the mass of Matthews work, carefully archived and stored at his home, was in a sense still very much alive, and that it needs some consideration for the future. Clearly the weight of such a responsibility is an issue for Claire, Matthews partner, on one hand being left with the task of keeping the work active is in a real sense something that she can do for him, a way of keeping him alive; on the other hand the task of curating, publicising and touring an artists work is a very difficult task, that many artists themselves aren't up to.
I wondered then how many other spouses and families have found themselves in a similar situation, and wether anybody has formed a group or charity or archive of the work of deceased artists.
I am aware of a few lone individuals that have had trust funds set up in order to tour a retrospective, and there are many well known endowments for high profile artists that have made use of charities to save paying tax on the estate. But what about those mid career artists, with a massive archive of work and papers, who haven't made enough from their work to ensure a care home for their lifes work.
Is there a place that relatives (who may know nothing about the art world) can go to get advice about how to deal with the vital remnant of their loved one, perhaps an archive to donate to, a collection of collections that would have the critical mass to be able to arrange touring exhibitions or loan specific works, a resource for students and other artists alike.
It seemed to me worth looking into whether such a body could make sense, it would have to be financially self supporting, honour the terms of estates (copyright, sales issues, etc) and most importantly have enough space to accomodate an ever growing collection.
Perhaps such a thing could be funded by legacy from those who would wish to be included in it when they die, or by donation from larger artist funded endowmments (of which there are many.
I imagine that such an organisation would very quickly become an extraordinarily well stocked collection, a national collection of work not based on what single items could be purchased but on entire careers in context. the more i think about it the more I am amazed that such a thing doesn't exist.
I am aware that work can be donated to local galleries and museums, but from personal experience I also know how such donations are often viewed as an annoyance, and are usually consigned to offsite storage for long enough for them to be forgotten about.
I will revisit this idea: in the meantime this article in the art newspaper provides some background
