My first art school teacher was the performance and instillation artist Kerry Trengrove, 1946 – 1991, infamous for his 1977 performance An Eight Day Passage, where he was buried in a small cell under the Acme Gallery in London and had to dig his way out. The performance is still legendary as an epic endurance work.
I remember him telling us on the first day of our art foundation course at Epsom School of Art that he paints every day of the year and especially on his birthday and Christmas. I remember being shocked. Every day! Especially birthdays and Christmas!
I realise now that the opposite of courage is not fear, it is conformity, and he was inviting us to change our thinking about how we spend our lives, to be courageous, question our conformity and develop an attitude of endurance.
Funny how one comment can make such a lasting impression …
Happy birthday to me. Happily painting! x