So now things are starting to take shape for the degree show. I still have a lot of technical considerations to attend to (more than a lot!) but I now have a clear picture of what my work will look like (but not sound yet) and here is a copy of my completed exhibition proposal for accross the gallery and studio spaces.
“In my solo show I intend to create an installation of approximately 4 m2. The installation will be enclosed in a room with controlled lighting, this will be constructed with a false ceiling above standard studio walls and a door hinged to the entrance. Inside, the walls, ceiling and floor will be painted black to absorb light. Within the room will be carefully constructed towers made out of abandoned furniture which appear to sit precariously. These towers are used as plinths for the main aspect of my installation, taxidermied, road killed rabbits, isolated from each other and raised to human level on top of these towers. The state of instability of the ‘plinths’ reflects the state in which these anthropomorphised animals lie.
The room will be lit by 3 40watt household light bulbs, suspended from the ceiling, lying at roughly the same height at which the rabbits will sit. The lighting will cause huge sweeping shadows across the walls and floor, filling the space with the ghostly presence of the animals. As the viewer enters the space, they will interfere with these shadows, casting across their own shadows, making their own presence highly visible. Close confrontations will be created with the animal due to the small physical distance between the human and the animal, and with the self due to the shadows. The viewer is brought face to face with reality.
In the gallery space I will include one sculpture taken as documentation from this installation, a tall tower made of furniture with a single rabbit sat on top at roughly head height. I would like the sculpture to stand with enough room around it to be walked around and I would like it to be placed away from anything else tall so that it maintains its look of precariousness.”
