Tenneson and Dale originally wanted to try working together because we both shared an interest in text as art… I was making artist’s books at the time and Cherry was making signs: the use of language in her work aimed to undermine the authority of the institutional signage she appropriated; whereas I was obsessed with re-arranging existing texts to make new ones.
In late 2004, we met up several times and talked about text works that we liked, such as Bruce Nauman’s neons; Jenny Holzer’s t-shirts and posters; Joseph Kosuth’s Whitney Museum exhibition and a whole load of Fluxus bits and bobs; but the more we talked about text and how to use it in a collaborative way, the more stuck we became. We both had such definite views on how it should be used that we couldn’t compromise at all.
We had also decided that it was important to have a goal to work towards and so we were aiming to put together a joint proposal for the 3rd “Crosby Homes Art Prize” which was coming up in Manchester. So, we had the will to work together and a deadline to work towards, but the initial spark of an idea had gone out.
It became clear that the idea of using text would have to be abandoned and then, as often happens, at the point of giving up an idea you have stubbornly clung onto, better ideas start to emerge. We looked again at our individual working practices; despite being ostensibly text driven, they were really very different: Cherry worked by reacting to site, whereas I usually started with an amorphous idea.
In the end, what started the ball rolling was a silly bit of word-play. We talked again about our work: Cherry’s signs were orders; I liked putting things in order, and one of us – I can’t remember who – said “ORDER ORDER!” mimicking what you can often hear being grumbled in broadcasts from the Houses of Parliament.
One of the most addictive things about being an artist is having the opportunity to make useful links between things which no other cultural practice would ever encourage. From the idea of Order, came the idea of Parliament and being visual artists we naturally went on to discuss the colours of the political parties and how the three primary colours are so pleasing to the eye. From there it was a simple enough leap to Ellsworth Kelly’s paintings and Minimalism in general (which we discovered we both loved, but had not thought to mention previously) and from there it was onto the red, yellow and blue signs that bark orders to us in every public space. We had our starting point. We would make works under the general heading ORDER ORDER and visually explore the links we had found between Parliament (the epitome of order); the Minimalist movement (ordered, pure art) and the various forms of public information signage (the physical manifestation of order). It wasn’t the idea of text we should have focussed on at all, but language, and from there we began to make our own.
P.S. We got down to the interview stage of the Crosby Homes Prize, which felt fantastic, even though we didn’t win. Other than the fact that this opportunity gave a kick-start to a practice which is still going strong five years on, the other thing that I particularly remember from that interview was that the panellists (including Enrico Lunghi, who was really encouraging) told us that from our proposal they had assumed we were men… but then that’s what collaborations are all about: surprises.
