Thursday, 17 June 2010

Garden II


Continuation of installations in the garden; Garden II which was made as Garden I was taken down.




Tuesday, 15 June 2010

Garden I

As I have no studio space at the moment I have started to make some work in the garden. I have made an installation connecting two parts of the garden using white thread.


This is not a million miles away from my studio work, creating planes in space and affecting the way people are allowed to move around the space. However it is certainly very different making work in an outside space. You have very little control over the environment. There is more to work with but there are more restrictions. 


Owing to the less than perfect surroundings it is easy to be less of a perfectionist, the work seems more free. For example the ties connecting the thread to the fence are not all exactly the same and I have not trimmed the excess thread. It seems futile to do so when the fence panels themselves are so decrepit and imperfect. 


 I had barely finished installing the work and spiders were already colonising it.

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Enslave Your Senses I

I was recently in Enslave Your Senses Chapel Arts Centre, Bath. The exhibition was exploring work which is not just visual but which explores and activates other senses.



I installed and performed Enslave Your Senses I. Which consisted of three lines of fishing wire stretching across the room. From these lines threads unpicked from canvas were hung in a grid formation. I spooned golden syrup onto the threads, causing it to trip and spin along the canvas threads to the floor.



It was an interesting experience, being the first time I have installed a work without being able to staple into the walls. This proved a huge problem but one which was eventually solved by using the ventilation grills. It was also the first time I have performed a piece. The performances certainly served to animate the work and to give another dimension to the piece. It seemed much more a discussion between the work and the audience. The level of surprise and delight from the audience at the behaviour of the golden syrup was brilliant. The lighting of the work gave a very dramatic spin to the performance and made the work seem alive as the remnants of the syrup slowly seeped and flower down the threads.