The term ‘artist’s artist’ is inspired by the phrase ‘actor’s actor’ which generally refers to someone who has mastered the craft of acting and is respected for this by his or her peers, regardless of whether or not they have any celebrity. This is not necessarily the case for the artists we are exhibiting at OHSH, but the term inspired us to bring together a group of artists who work with, for or in collaboration with other artists to sustain their own artistic practice - a new take on the ‘artist’s artist’ phrase. If you’ve spent much time in the art world in any city you’ll know that this is the case for most artists, so perhaps this group is not unique. However, at OHSH we wish to highlight and support the reality of the art world, and hope for this to be an ongoing concept.

Returning to the original conception of the ‘artist’s artist’, which is an artist who has the respect of peers, curators, students etc. but a wider general public is less aware of the work than would be expected given the level of professional esteem in which the work is held, we considered what aspects could contribute to artists falling into this category. Some may suggest that they have a high level of integrity, which means they pursue themes with no regard to outside influences. Perhaps they make work that makes use of skills that are hard to appreciate by non-practitioners, or their work is particularly hard to live with for collectors. And finally, their work could demonstrate a breakthrough insight that is not yet understood outside of the world of artists.

All admirable and respectable ways of making art in our eyes. Which led us to wonder if any artists in the historical canon have been known as an ‘artist’s artist’. Marcel Duchamp is seen as a paragon of the category, given that his notion of the readymade arguably gave birth to the entire epoch of Modern art. We found a few mentions of Cy Twombly, but his popularity now would suggest otherwise, as well as Agnes Martin. The term could refer to successful great artists that perhaps only artists really get, such as Phyllida Barlow, Rachel Maclean or Huw Locke, but how can we define such an idea?

For us, our definition of ‘artist’s artist’ refers to the way in which an artist is enabled to make their work, or the lack thereof, which was surely the case for Duchamp, Twombly and Martin in their early career. Art does not have to have a purpose, and therefore its creation is often not deemed necessarily vital in the daily drudgery of life, but the artist’s included in this exhibition make work against the odds. When childcare, work or life in general could easily get in the way they still excavate time in their studios to create meaningful work.