This is the last week of my residency at Hospitalfield. In the last update I discussed my research into the possibilities of displaying object-based work:
“I’ve been researching techniques found in jewellery as starting points for thinking about hanging methods – clasps, rings, bolts and strings…this interest has something to do with thinking about an exhibition space as a body and the works as something this ‘body’ can wear.”
I have been doing lots of drawing to help me work out these ideas. I am eager to start making, but I am also aware that I want to exhaust all the possibilities on paper before my return to Glasgow, where I will have less time and space for this type of work.
The drawings show an object which I think of as a primary, sculptural object, being held in mid-air by ropes, pieces of metal that resemble bolts, clasps or loops, and chains.
The ‘primary’ object usually takes the form of a body plan of a human, but is often made up of elements of objects that support the management of the body: pharmaceuticals, containers for oils and lotions, rubber dial pads, plastic water bottles, etc. I am thinking of these in a loose way as the decorative part of a piece of jewellery – the statement.
It is important that the weight of the object is made clear in the way the support structure behaves and how the object sits within it.
I have also been looking at Eva Hesse’s larger sculptural work, especially ones in which lengths of material support other objects by allowing them to hang and sit in or on them.
JB
