It is time to start thinking about how I am going to exhibit my sculptures for my degree show. My aim is to present a collection of work that reminds viewers of objects that they have previously known in a related form. I want the work to disrupt the familiar comfort zone of what we handle and make use of in our daily lives.
I went to see the Rosemarie Trockel exhibition at the Serpentine to get some ideas.
Trockel’s interest in natural history and in diverse forms of creativity both by trained and self-taught artists and crafts people was brought together in an array of objects. The exhibition provided the opportunity to see how the so called “museum effect” can be used to question our perception of what constitutes art. The viewer is invited to look at objects, such as a crab, out of context. It is to be looked at as an artefact, or in a sense, a work of art. The effect allows for a focus of seeing with respect to form and material.
I went round the exhibition trying to imagine my own objects in place of those exhibited. Some of Trockel’s objects were put on low plinths, and one on a floating plinth. There were large, glass, free-standing cabinets which contained several objects, some on the floor and some on shelves. Some things were recessed into the wall with glass fronts. Yet more were displayed in glass cases that projected from the wall.
I would like to build a false wall in order to make a long recessed shelf. This could accommodate some of the smaller, concrete sculptures. If I can make some perspex display cases to project from the wall, these could be used to show works like my skipping rope. For the larger, very heavy objects I would need a large, low plinth.
I need to make some drawings…
I have found some inspiration from a couple of Italian designers called Formafantasma. Unfortunately, I didn’t see their recent show but have now documented the images that I can find. Seeing their work has tied in with a recent tutorial from which I came away thinking that I should not get stuck into making sculpture which is too highly crafted but should allow a looser, more surprising approach.
These two call themselves designers, rather than artists. Their work explores the significance of objects as cultural conduits. The role of craft and industry is important in the design of their work which encompasses the use of leather, wood, glass and natural polymers extracted from plants or animal-derivatives. The objects take the form of tools, furniture, vessels and rugs but all exhibit a redundancy or primitivism where their production appears to be based on the symbolic connotations of the material.
I think their work can also be classified as art because the utility of the objects is implied, but their interpretation cannot be placed. They are neither archaic not futuristic. The works are hand-sized which implies that they have been hand-crafted. On their own they appear to be prototypes but have been produced as editions of eight or twelve, on an industrial scale. There is an appealing absurdity in this.
The tutorial refocused my thoughts about how much craft should be allowed into my sculpture. I seem to tread the line where some of my work is only just art and this is the reason why it works. However I think I need to make more ‘situations’ happen where materials work in a surprising way due to their placement or their substance.
This week I will be sand casting in order to make aluminium rope. This is quite labour intensive for an uncertain outcome and probably contradicts my endeavour to do less craft!
