The last two Sunday's I've been invigiliating Forensic (a group show at 55 Leroy Street, London SE1). Yesterday the visitors were a bit more hesitant about my work. The piece invites people to 'spy' on the rooms above and below the first floor exhibition. This done by peering into spy holes located in the ceiling and the floor. The spy holes (like the ones usually found in domestic front doors) are quite discrete – what's most obvious is the ladder that enables access to the one in the ceiling.
I have a real sense of detachment from the piece. And don't know how I feel about it. Although it sits well with the other work, and Linda Duffy (the show's artist/curator) likes it, I'm a little too aware of it's short comings. I've had good feedback from artists who know my work. They saw aesthetic and conceptual connections with my previous work, and while I appreciate this the piece is a little too blunt for my liking.
It's probably not insignificant that I was working on ideas for this show shortly before John died. It was installed in the days after returning from burying his ashes in Sweden. Perhaps my sense of 'lack' doesn't really belong to the work at all.
If anything I'm disappointed that there's so little of me in it. It was a site-specific project and although it embraces this it has less wit, intelligence and ambiguity than I would like.
The show runs for another two weekends – I won't be there as I'm working elsewhere but I look forward to hearing visitors feedback and reading the comments …
