I was walking along the Sheringham seafront at sunrise yesterday morning when suddenly inspiration struck! Whilst walking the dog with my partner, a former fisherman, I asked him why there seems to be light and dark patches in the water close to the horizon… This is apparently because of the oceans depth. The darker areas show the water moving faster over the lumps and bumps of the seabed. It was when he said “it looks like the sea has just been cutout” that I had one of those lightbulb above the head moments…
A “cutout” in the sea lead to a literal “cutout” OF the sea. Since graduation I have had so many ideas that have simply remained in the form of a sketch or quick note on a napkin. However, I am especially keen on this idea and am now going to develop it more and work out some of the logistics. I would love to perhaps use photographs or paintings of the sea, horizon and sky to form an installation in a entire room. What gallery/studio will have enough white cube style space I do not know, but I envisage viewers standing in the doorway viewing the piece in front of them with the horizon being where the floor meets the wall. Literally bringing the seascape into the gallery, lifesize. I would also like to experiment with using a still film piece to project over the top of the installation that will change the time of day in the room and show sunrise to sunset in a shortened amount of time. It could be an entire cycle of the day’s seascape in a more manageable hours installation.
I am heading into Norwich tomorrow to meet a friend who studies photography so will begin the search for the ideal space to develop this idea. My studio in the spare room of the flat is just not big enough!
Sketches to follow soon…
