During the last two weeks of January 2010 and as a part of my involvement in the inter-disciplinary project Department 21 at the Royal College of Art I gave out thirty of the same paint-by-number kits to college students in the space and beyond. This was relevant to my historical and theoretical examination of the paint-by-number kit that forms a part of a chapter of my PhD.

My initial hope was optimistic: expecting each student that was a part of the Department 21 project to fill in a kit underestimated how much time the paint-by-number kit took to complete and how much time the students had to spare. The Times Square composition that I chose took at least 8 hours to paint and having talked to many people who gave it a go, is immensely tedious. Thus, in the furore of the Royal College of Art’s schedule where students have to complete multiple projects and are tied up in the intense and demanding activities of their respective departments, only one was completed in the first week, and that was by me. I was hoping to show how easy the kit was, to encourage others to get involved.

It didn’t seem to work. By June 2010, four months later, only two more had trickled to a stage of completion, both after some persistence from myself.

Hearing that Department 21 had secured space in the College’s SHOW TWO I thought that an afternoon workshop would be the perfect way in which to get more kits done, create a hub of activity, whilst at the same time talking a little about the medium and the issue of amateur practice at large.

This is what happened, and alongside a number that came back from students and friends that had kits, another 13 ‘finished’ canvases were added to the collection. Some were half complete, but once the painter had finished to a level they were happy with (or were just completely hacked off with the kit) I considered that kit done, even if only the sky had been painted.

All ages were represented.

During the talk with craft theorist (and my supervisor) Glenn Adamson some participants carried on painting. This provoked Glenn to recall the Benjamin’s Storyteller, where the German Frankfurt school theorist lauds the depth of knowledge assimilation that occurs when one’s mind is relaxed. Perhaps in this case it was the talk that distracted from the monotony and difficulty of the paint-by-number. But that really depends on the practitioner. (see link for image)

Throughout the afternoon I stuck up completed kits on the walls of the College, but sometimes the blue tack didn’t hold and the canvases dropped to the floor. But these kits are resilient and I managed to take a picture of all the completed examples on the day.

Authors, from top left to bottom right.

Stephen Knott, RCA/V&A PhD researcher in modern craft. Completed with the intention to finish in the shortest possible time, whilst still staying completely within the lines. Still took eight hours.

Paul Scattergood, RCA MPhil Communications Arts and Design. Trained as a fine artist, Paul found the kit frustrating. He wanted to hit something as the colours could never achieve the image on the front of the kit due to their poor quality.

Polly Hunter, RCA/V&A History of Design graduate. Diligent and vibrant picture with colours in the wrong places to produce a very pop-art finish. The kit was not complimenting a dissertation Polly was writing at the time and by the end was insisting that I take the kit away from her.

Cat Rossi and Mark, RCA/V&A Phd researcher in modern craft and partner. Attempted to make the banal task more interesting by reversing colours, but quality of paints made this impossible and tedious.

Stephen Knott. Canvas used to show the layering in paint-by-number. Colouring one colour, taking a photo, then painting another colour, then taking another photo like a stop-frame animation.

Knott family. Done by various members of my family during my brother’s surprise birthday party. Enjoyed by some but not all. Taxi painted by my nephew and niece.

Simon Dedman, freelance journalist. All fire with no car.

Public. This was painted by a women whilst listening to talk by Glenn Adamson about Amateurism, de-skilling, and art, craft and design practice. (see image)

Prapat Jiwarangsan, RCA MA student, Ceramics and Glass. Let the tree grow from the concrete.

Adrien Parlange, RCA MA student, Communication Art and Design. Done by the book, but after over an hour only managed to paint a bit of sky and the Coca-Cola advert with impeccable accuracy.

The paint-by-number project is still a work-in-progress, there are several more kits to come in, including one painted in oils! There is a plan in the future to show this research project ‘spin-off’ in its complete form through some means of exhibition/dissemination.

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