Putting together an exclusive range of art/photography for a company who supply bespoke artwork to hotels/restaurants, bars, offices and apartments is a dream job for any art lover, which has taken me on a national tour through a weird and wonderful world of exhibitions, studios, fairs, colleges, artist networks and anywhere else where I might discover ‘up and coming’ artistic talent.

This has not been without its surreal moments. At a prestigious London private viewing to which I took my new boss, one artist arrived in a shopping trolley, in which he was travelling to Glasgow, using a broom as a paddle. We never managed to find out what he used for brakes for those downward slopes . . .

Studio visits are always a fascinating experience, and artists who have chosen not to, or can’t afford to rent a studio, are incredibly resourceful when it comes to finding a place to paint. I have visited artists in derelict buildings, garages, garden sheds, even an old aircraft hanger, and am often surprised that creativity and innovation can thrive in some of the most depressing places imaginable, where the smell of damp and mould intermingles unpleasantly with turps, and pigeon droppings with paint.

I also observe that many artists are now using the ‘found objects’ in their work, and I remember from my own art college days that we were more likely to look in a skip for materials to use than go to Windsor and Newton. Toilet roll, carrier bags and even old mattresses have replaced canvas and paper, and household emulsion has become a popular media with painters instead of oil and acrylic. I am told this is a challenge to conventional use of materials, but I can’t help wondering if these artists are simply hard up?

Touring last years degree shows was also full of surprises, and I was staggered to find how a consistently high proportion of art graduates had chosen to express themselves ‘conceptually’, and how few had opted for more conventional disciplines. Self-harm, old age, drug addiction, dereliction and other ‘social concerns’ were recurrent themes across the nation’s art departments. I am told this is a challenge to conventional use of subject matter, or are our young artists simply self-absorbed and depressed? Needless to say, I didn’t find much for hotel bedroom walls here.

Read more on the degree shows: Indigo Goes to Art School

Yet amidst the current climate of experimentation and conceptualism, I have met painters, digital artists and photographers who still recognise the value and importance of technique and skill, and there is a wealth of artistic talent out there seeking to find expression and exposure, to both the public and potential buyers.

By Kaye Kent MA