Installing PLAY at Moca …
I left the gallery this afternoon. I’m really pleased with how it looks.
At 4.9 x 3.7 x 0.2 meters it’s the largest single piece I’ve ever made.
Michael saw it today for the first time – I’m delighted with his reaction – “Great!”
It’s taken almost six days to install it. I wasn’t expecting to take so long but after day one I knew it was going to be a long process. . Unspooling the tape then measuring and cutting it took a surprisingly long time. Hanging and securing the lengths of tape is far quicker. It’s amazing quickly three hours worth of tape can be hung, it’s also amazing how little ‘horizontal space’ it covers.
I’m very grateful that Roberto (Michael’s assistant) helped me with the measuring and cutting.
The repetitiveness of the work gave me a lot of time to think. I found myself thinking around the piece – thinking about how it can be approached from so many different directions: academic, aesthetic, sexual, social.
The piece works well in the gallery – it ‘sits’ very well. I should remember that other installations have been successful too – successful in terms of their relationship to their particular locations. I like making installations, I like placing objects in space, perhaps that’s why I’m a bit uncomfortable calling myself a sculptor (though I’m even more uncomfortable with “installation artist”).
The show is about 95% ready – I have to sort out some lighting. Although one whole wall of the gallery is glass (frosted) if the weather is less than sunny additional lighting is necessary. I also realised that the show closes the first week of October and by then it will be considerably darker by 6pm.
I’m extending a warm invitation to blog readers –
The opening is Sunday 19 September 2-4pm
Moca, 113 Bellenden Road, London SE15 4QY
