Bureau of Portraits for Services, Gifts and Favours

Lady Lucy will run a bureau for her ongoing portrait exchange project. Come and talk to the artist about her work and research and collect a set of limited edition business cards designed by Tina Borkowski as part of he project.

“In Portraits for Services, Gifts and Favours I have embarked upon a series of exchanges with a network of people sitting for a portrait. In exchange for a watercolour painting, each of these people was willing to offer a service, gift or favour – from language lessons to homemade cake.

Through the process of exchange, the value of the portrait painting is questioned. Is the value in the goods offered for exchange, or in the moment of interaction and engagement during the process of painting itself? The emphasis is placed on the personal interaction and offer of exchange, suggesting alternative value systems other than those of the commercial marketplace

The journey has taken me from London, to Dancing Ledge, Berlin and the Isle of Mull. I’ve built relationships with the individuals through the process of painting and the exchange. Each painted work or object rests within the discursive and social realm of its happening.”