‘Eye Routine’ – I decided on using the cabinet as I feel a cabinet of curiosity is an essential part of collecting from the knowledge I gained from the dissertation. People who had money would use these to display their most valuable belongings to show them off. I’ve used the cabinet in a slightly different way to show empty contact lens cases I have used. This is to show the long boring routine I go through most mornings. I lined them all up in rows adjacent to each other to show this receptiveness.
Damien Hirst was a massive influence at the start of the year when looking at my dissertation and displaying collections. I really liked his regimental display which is what influenced me with this piece. Several people have said to me it reminds them of Hirst. I was very tempted to use a ruler to measure the exact distance between each case. But could I get it exact? Did I need it exact? I sat and thought about it. All my other collections such as my boards and my wipes in folders and on dresses, the hair the contacts, they all look very similar however they are all slightly different. A bit like the topic of animals and their skin. they all look so similar however they all have slight markings which differentiates one from another. All this I thought about and came to the conclusion my work isn’t perfectly the same it looks similar but each make-up wipe is slightly different with its markings just like each contact lens has dried up in a different way. When I put in the cases I didn’t separate the cases with writing on to the plain ones I just picked them out of the bag as I went along arranging them. The ones I chose were just the ones I pulled out. It just happened like that. The same as it just happened when I took off my make-up that day or how many hairs fell out when I washed my hair. Or how that contact lens dried up. Some cases were slightly more open than others which is only clear when you get closer, which brings it back to the idea of my work, of the viewer having to get up close and personal before noticing these little things. the cabinet looks regimental which it is and the contact cases all the same black colour. It is only upon closer inspection you notice little flicks in the cover of the cases and that some have writing on. The dark colour of the cases compliments well with the white cabinet making a striking eye catching piece.
Mark Dion was a big influence for the use of the cabinet, as his work is based a lot around mueseolgy which is why I visited Ipswich museum at the beginning of the year to gain inspiration to see how I could incorporate this sort of idea before my ideas changed. I looked at Dion a lot when using my cabinet but I was more interested with Hirst’s way or arranging. Josiah McElheny’s use of mirrors was a topic which began to provoke ideas in my use of the cabinet. He used mirrors to make the objects appear to go on forever making the space seem larger which I felt could work well with the mirror I had in my cabinet. Making my collection appear even larger.
