Finding the thread

In a recent blog about Eva Hesse I questioned ‘what if the performance for Hesse was the making of the sculpture, (and) the involvement of the body in making the objects?’ This question has brought me to research Karla Black’s method of working and to the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein, as Black cites Klein’s ‘play technique’ as a contextual source. This technique allowed Klein to analyse very young children through their negotiation of the physical world rather than through language. Klein developed post-Freudian theories through the observation of babies and very young children with their relationship to objects (which included people). Freud used dreams and symbols in adults to examine unconscious desires and Klein used the play technique, which she saw as intuitive, pre-linguistic and in a constant state of development.

Part of Klein’s main theory was how the child developed through the weaning process where the child has to face losses in external reality. She thought that the child at this time responds with manic defences but gradually gains contact with reality in a new way. Creativity, she saw, is developed as an attempt to recreate an external and internal world as a result of mourning.

Objects are initially understood by the infant by their functions and are termed ‘part objects’. The breast that feeds the hungry infant is the ‘good breast’ and the hungry infant that finds no breast is in relation to the ‘bad breast’. The relationship between the infant and the object is a complex one, with the object (the mother) being needed by the child to sooth all anxieties. But, as Klein argued, envy can develop, not only when the infant is not soothed satisfactorily, but even after an experience of a ‘good feed’ as the child starts become aware of her own lack. With a good enough ‘facilitating environment’ part object functions eventually transform into a comprehension of whole objects.

My reaction to this is that maybe that many artists are still involved in this process of transformation and that it is a continuing development and exchange between the external and internal world.

Feeling a bit better about things after this weekend. I went to the opening of the Creekside Open in Deptford on Saturday afternoon, which was a really positive experience. The exhibition, which was selected by Phyllida Barlow, was probably the best that I’ve been luckily involved in and I was overwhelmed with the quality of work. It was also very well curated. I’ve never been to an opening where so many people have turned up….lots of the work disappeared under a mass of bodies at one point. I’m not sure if it’s always like this but the gallery was mentioned on the Culture Show a couple of weeks ago. I really wanted to speak to Phyllida but there were too many other people wanting to do the same.

When I came down to drop the work off the week before I’d gone to see Tracey Emin at the Hayward which I thought was emphatically curated and instead of this loud, screwed up Tracey who has featured in the media, she came across as sensitive and vulnerable. There were lots of works that I’d not seen before and some of the sculptural work she’s done was fantastic. In the large room upstairs the mix of whites, neon and natural materials was really impressive. It was probably the best curating that I’d seen for a while. I’m not that keen on paying for exhibitions but I was in there for a ages and definitely got value for money.

I also went to see Fred Sandback at the Whitechapel, which I was excited about because I’d been a fan for a long time, but it was actually quite disappointing. I was in and out of the exhibition in about 5 mins. They had only given over one room and filled it was a massive work, which really needed to be in a bigger space. This insensitivity really spoiled it and it made me realise how important the space is around the work. There were some little sculptures that were made directly onto the exposed brickwork of the gallery, which were lovely and almost invisible. A stark contrast to the black threaded triangle that dominated the room.