Why You Need an Artist’s Statement – Featuring the story of Brian Willsher

Why do you need an artists statement. The most important reason is four letters long: HMRC. His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs levies taxes on items sold at different rates and at least one artist found that not being seen as an artist was very costly.

You should have an artist’s statement anyway, regardless of whether you intend to sell your work or not. Having an artist’s statement tells the world that you’re an artist, even if you’re suffering from chronic imposter syndrome. Without an artist’s statement your work runs the risk of being dismissed as craft, or “purely decorative”. With that being said let’s look at the real story of Brian Willsher who, in 1968, was breaking in to the world of sculpture and recognition for his art. However, Customs and Excise had other ideas about what and what was not art.

Brian Willsher’s approach to his work arguably helped the establishment move against him.

Brian Willsher (1930 – 2010) didn’t go to art school. In 1946 (16 years old) he went to study engineering at Woolwich Polytechnic. From there Brian Willsher qualified (c.1949/50) and for a time worked as a tool maker. There isn’t much firm information on Brian’s work life, but it’s reported that he also worked as a farm hand, but also qualified as a dental technician. It seems that Brian was not content with just doing a job and wanted something that would challenge him and allow his creativity to be expressed.

Reportedly Brian began working with wood in 1956 (26 years old) and at some point after this was using a circular saw to make bowls and lamps. The British Pathe reel states that he “set up on his own” to do this. The circular saw was apparently too noisy and so he started using a a bandsaw. From the British Pathe reel Brian Willsher is working from a shed at the bottom of his garden in a residential area so the circular saw was probably too noisy for his neighbours rather than for Brian himself. Despite the laws being very different in the 1950s and 60s with regards to noise pollution I can imagine Brian’s neighbours on a summer’s day really appreciating the sound of his circular saw(!). Whatever the reason, the change to the bandsaw resulted in a change of style (bandsaws and circular saws cut wood in very different ways), and it was through experimentation that Brian Willsher then developed his wood sculpting style.

By 1965 Brian Willsher had his first exhibition at Dunn’s in Bromley. This was possibly Dunn’s Furniture Store (https://www.bblhs.org.uk/dunns-store) which would have fitted in with his work being, at the time, classed as decorative. This was followed by exhibitions at Heal’s in 1966 and 1967 – again this appears to be another furniture store with a strong craft/design background (https://www.heals.com/heritage). This was followed closely by Brian Willsher exhibiting in Melbourne, Australia (can’t find any more information on that) and was clearly becoming recognised for his work by being commissioned to make three pieces by Dartington Hall, Devon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartington_Hall)  and six pieces for the Devon Guild of Craftsmen (now MAKE Southwest).

In 1968 two things happened. British Pathe broadcast a feature on Brian Willsher, and Customs and Excise came knocking. Although the two may be unrelated, the reporting and Brian Willsher’s own words about his work likely informed their decision to tax him 40% which was the tax rate for “interior design” compared to the lower tax rate for works of art. Despite support from reknowned artists and sculptors such as Sir Henry Moore (1898-1986) the tax levy led to Brian Willsher becoming bankrupt and for a time retiring from art. Ultimately, and most likely due to the lobbying by Moore and others, Brian Willsher’s work was reclassified as art for tax purposes, but the damage had already been done.

But why? Why was the tax man so keen to gouge Brian Willsher? I suspect this is three-fold:

1. Britain was still recovering its post war economy and tax reforms by Harold Wilson’s newly elected Labour government in 1965 meant that taxation could be as high as 95% under certain conditions. This situation was highlighted by the 1966 song “Taxman” by The Beatles after the fab four realised that despite their earnings they were very nearly bankrupted by taxation. While art is considered a luxury, in general taxation disproportionately affects those on the lower social scale and so furniture and “interior decorations” were taxed at a higher rate than art. That means that if Brian Willsher made “things” rather than art, or sculpture then he would be liable for a higher tax rate.
2. The class system was (and still is) very prominent in UK society. Even today, very few artists from anything other than privileged backgrounds across the entire spectrum of the arts. How could a dental technician who studied engineering at a polytechnic possibly be considered an artist? It is my argument that this was an attempt by the establishment (knowingly or unknowingly) to ensure that Brian Willsher should know his place.
3. Imposter syndrome. Due to not having an education in the arts, and creating pieces that were pleasing to him (plus the societal conventions at the time) Brian most likely did not feel like an artist. His creations did not have titles, and he called them “things”. Even if he had labelled them as “Untitled n.” his tax classification could have had to have been art rather than “decoration”. Brian Willsher was gaining recognition for his work as sculptural art, but it wasn’t really until he had the backing of establishment artists that he was able to realise: “yes, this is art, and I am an artist”.

Even the narration of a BBC/Pathe reel about Brian Willsher is sneering and condescending of his work as art – Bandsaw Sculptor (1968) refers to Brian’s work within the opening seconds as “no handmade shapes produced with highfalutin motivations” and “Willsher is no highbrow Modernist“. On balance it does ask the question “So where does accepted art end and instinctive craft begin?” but the language used about Brian Willsher’s work has already coloured the opinion of viewer that this isn’t art, and anyone could do it.

Within a related Pathe reel OUT TAKES / CUTS FROM CP 683 – ADULT TOYS, DOLL’S FACTORY AND BAND SAW SCULPTURE (1968) is a collection of footage, some of it from Brian Willsher’s story, but interestingly there’s a clip of another man with metal sculptures. This reel has no audio and I’ve been unable to find who the person is, but the juxtaposition is interesting as it appears from the footage that part of this person’s process is to have a young woman to place pieces of metal in different slots until he is satisified with them. These must then be welded but we don’t see that, and the man is wearing a suit so it’s not even clear if he the person actually creating the pieces in the film. Which begs the question: if the metal “instinctive art” is art, then why is the wood “instinctive art” not art?

The related sections on the out takes reel are: Brian Willsher time code 2:17 -4:07 and 11:10 – 14:18 with the anonymous metal sculpture man at time code 9:19 – 11:10

Anyone can be an artist. But you have to declare it. It’s not for others to decide whether you’re an artist or not. If you’re creating art then you’re an artist. So get an artist’s statement if not to fend off HMRC, but to fend off your critics.

Here is the transcript of the audio from “Bandsaw Sculptor (1968)”:

But these are no handmade shapes produced with highfalutin motivations. They’re not mass produced either. Each is unique, and machine made. In a shed at the bottom of his garden in Catford, carpenter Brian Willsher turns out these wooden shapes on a bandsaw. Willsher is no highbrow Modernist, his work is abstract in concept but this is “instinctive art”. He uses his bandsaw with the same dextrous yet precise flourish that a painter uses a brush. One time dental technician, instrument maker, and farm worker; Willsher stumbled on this art form almost by accident. He set up on his own, wood turning with a circular saw making table lamps and bowls but he found the noise of the saw deafening, so he bought the quieter bandsaw. After months of doodling and experimenting with the bandsaw he eventually developed his technique. Some purist sculptors may turn up their noses at Willsher’s efforts, but he uses his machine as a creative artist and the results have achieved acclaim at three exhibitions of his work. So where does accepted art end and instinctive craft begin? Willsher’s creations are nameless. To him they are just “things”. Most of his work includes some form of spiralling effect, achieved by cutting the segments at an angle. Though mass production plays no part in Brian Willsher’s work [end of file]

Sources:

• Who Decides What And Is Not Art? The Forgotten Story Of Brian Willsher.
• Art UK – Brian Willsher
• British Pathe Archive