Leo in conversation with...

John Everest

JE: I wonder how it’s going to appear in the context of the gallery – it’s all going to look very professional. You know I'm beginning to play darts every day, for three hours a day…

LP: At home?

JE: Yeah- and my darts are getting there.

LP: You’re getting good [laughs]?

JE: I can hit a decent 140. In the exhibition, If I can hit a 180, that’ll be brilliant. I've hit about 20 140's, but to get a 180 would be great. Being in that environment, being the gallery, I will strive to be a bit better than an amateur- and look less like one while I’m at it.

LP: You wouldn’t want to go in there and look like a twat?

JE Well maybe.

LP: Well I was talking to someone who was considering going in the gallery and playing a banjo for the show, but was wondering whether they should do it or not, because perhaps they wouldn’t be good enough at it...

JE: Is that fear?

LP: But it’s strange because the theme does allow for it - you could go in there and be terrible at something, and it would make sense.

JE: But you kind of feel restricted that the gallery won’t support that. I mean, that’s why I want to call [my work] practise - because it is practise. Although I’ve said it would be nice to hit a 180, there isn’t a definitive position that I want reach at the end of it- perhaps to be considered a professional. I don’t even know how I would quantify this? But I definitely want to venture beyond the ease of an amateur. I want to practice; I want to take this seriously. Being in the gallery will influence this...

LP: It’s interesting that for you it’s not just an area of display, but perhaps something else?

JE: I think that all the way through I’ve tried to think that- I really want to stay genuine.

LP: Do you think that gallery-goers can be professionals of a sort?

JE: Do you mean maybe educated gallery-goers?

LP: Yes I suppose I do... for me something that’s interesting is the structure of the downstairs gallery - the fact that it has very large windows onto a busy street, making it into a big display cabinet almost. The gallery and street are blended - if you walk past, you're practically in the exhibition. Part of what this exhibition theme tries to do is use that effect and open up a dialogue with real world "passers-by": effectively, everyone, not just those who go to the gallery normally. Although obviously, if we're being realistic, it’s still a pretty small pool of people. In a way, this theme and hopefully content has things that every person can relate to - we all make things and do things, don’t we?

JE: This why I like the idea that if someone were to walk past, and to see me playing darts...would that invite them to come in a play?