Out with old, in with new

I have come back from my ski break refreshed and uninjured (thank God) and during my absence the previous show of the famous Australian artist had concluded and yesterday was its last day. A new show is due to open tonight and is from a collective of artists from Christchurch, New Zealand who had not been able to show in their home city due to the devastating earthquakes.

Today the old show had to be de-installed in order for the new show to go up. First all the paintings had been sent to stored if they had either been sold or to store long term in different locations. A fraction of the paintings (mainly smaller) were hung elsewhere in the gallery. All of the screws were to be removed and the holes spack-filled.

Once this was complete, there has been one of the galleries' famous lunches, the first in a while, held upstairs and my assistance was needed during this period to set up and clear the table. During lunch, the artworks arrived from New Zealand packed in four wooden crates. An inventory was needed for all of the artworks in each crate and all of the bubble wrap and polystyrene supports removed and put back into the crate to be reapplied once the show is deinstalled and shipped back to New Zealand.

The artists who had been around the whole were very helpful with the set-up in a friendly way and were not too overbearing. They had thoroughly enjoyed seeing all their work come out of the crates and give us a hand with putting it all together, as previously we have had to do at our own accord.

Today was a busy day but a lot of work was done, tomorrow, however will be busier as all the works will need to be hung and there is still a lot more to be done. More tomorrow...