Notes from the studios: David Batchelor
Mark Waugh
The studios of contemporary artists are spaces in which ideas and objects converge. A question that many participants in our Art360 project want to address is how to manage the history and representations of the multiplicity of their artworks, some of which are internationally distributed and some stored or currently in production.
When we visited David Batchelor’s new studio as part of our regular studio visits with Art360 participants, we found him refining his digital inventory records with the help of his assistant.
David’s archives contain doodles going back to his time as an art student, as well as intricate and thematically resonant drawings of some of his more contemporary works.
With Art360’s funding David has been able to continue to employ an assistant to consolidate images and metadata through a bespoke FileMaker Pro system, improving his archive’s performance and extending its operational fields. To populate the new system Art360 has also installed two new scanners: one for digitising the various photographic formats that document historic works and site specific installations, and another which can scan large scale drawings and works on paper.
We will be sharing David’s Art360 film in due course but in the meantime; find out more about the artist’s work and background on our website here: dacsfoundation.org.uk/david-batchelor.
