Working in the Arts: Craig Burnett

This week for our Working in the Arts profile, we talk to Craig Burnett.

So, where do you work? 

Pilar Corrias, London

What is your job title?  

Director of Exhibitions

What time do you wake up? What are you usual working hours?

I wake up at 6:30 – that’s when my alarm goes off at least, on weekends too. I like mornings. Gallery hours are normal, along with the usual array of openings, events, occasional Saturdays and bouts of international travel. When I have the time, I write on weekends.

What are your key tasks?

I oversee the exhibition programme. That’s the core of the job, but it ramifies here and there depending on the time of year or what the artists are working on. There’s often a group show to plan, a press release to draft, documents to update, a budget to look at, a museum show to help organise. And it’s important to work constructively with everyone at the gallery: other directors who focus on sales, artist liaisons who work closely with the artists, communications, registrars, technicians, and of course Pilar, the owner of the gallery – we all work together to keep the exhibition programme ticking along, and to promote our artists to curators and collectors.

What was your career path to this role? 

I started as a writer and editor. My first art world job was at Modern Painters magazine, which I’d read in Vancouver, Canada before I moved to London. After that I was freelance for a few years, granting me the time to write a book about Jeff Wall, published by Tate, which led me to working at Tate Modern as Curator, Interpretation, then to White Cube, where I worked for just over seven years. Since then I’ve had similar roles at a few commercial galleries, focussing on artists, the exhibition programme, institutional outreach, occasional sales. I still see my role as a kind of writer or communicator – planning shows, interpreting work, being a liaison between artists, my colleagues and the public. At a commercial gallery, you speak to artists every day, and then you need to reach collectors and curators. They are different audiences, with different needs and expectations, but the same principle applies: attention and communication.

What are the best and worst things about your job?

Nothing beats installing a show. I love being in the gallery, shifting things around in the company of an artist. Studio visits can be revelatory. Placing an artwork in a museum collection is great, the pinnacle of what we do at a commercial gallery. The less edifying stuff is probably familiar to everyone: if you work at an institution or a gallery, or any organisation for that matter, there will be exigencies that have nothing to do with the idealism we might associate with other aspects of the job.

And I keep writing, maybe two or three things per year. One of the best things about writing a book on Philip Guston’s The Studio was a few readers became friends (and maybe the reverse is also true!).

What careers advice would you give to your 18 year old self with the benefit of hindsight?

Well, I’m reluctant to believe there are many ‘ifs’ in life, and ruminating on past decisions can be pointless. When we’re young almost everything is beyond our control yet we somehow find a path. Rather than chide my teenage self,  I’ll tweak a few platitudes. Study deeply an idea, artist or period of history. If obscure, even better. Find a mentor with open ears and an open heart. Read fiction and poetry. Cultivate friendships. Be a bit reckless, and a bit disciplined. The more you fail, the better your story. Devote yourself to something you love because it will form who you are for the rest of your life.

Have you had a secret job that is not on your CV? 

Lots … I’ll keep most of them a secret. But it’s worth mentioning that I was an English teacher in southern Japan a long time ago, and living there left a lasting impression on me. In 2011, I organised a show that integrated scholars’ rocks – an art form best known in China but also found in Japan and Korea – with contemporary art, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have come up with that idea had I not lived in Japan. Maybe there’s a nugget of advice in that anecdote too.

Thank you to Craig for sharing his insights into the art world.