These two images show Damien Hirst’s regimental and organised approach to his display with his collections and Josiah Mc Elheny’s use of mirrors, resulting in an illusion of how many items are actually in the cabinet. These are both elements which from experimentingwith my cabinet are becoming more prominent in my work.
I next decided to experiment with my empty contact lenscases. I hadn’t really done much with them since I began collecting them due to the fact of not knowing what to do with them. However I think my problem was the fact of not actually trying things out and being experimental. Obviously some ideas are going to be better than others I just need to experiment with them to work out what does and doesn’t work. I decided to scatter all the contact lense cases in the cabinet similar to what I did with my actual lenses. This gave the appearance of a lot of cases but didn’t really work as a whole I felt, it just looked ‘too messy.’ Therefore I decided to take a more organised approach like many artists have done with regimental style ordering such as Hirst.
I decided that on each shelf I would place the contact cases a similar distance apart and do this on every row on each shelf. This I felt gave a more aesthetically pleasing arrangement due to the systematic approach taken creating pattern throughout the cabinet. I think the contrast between the black cases and the white cabinet really works well, especially with the reflections in the mirror making the cabinet appear larger inside. This is similar to Josiah McElheny’s work with his use of mirrors and glass objects to create this spacious appearance. Even creating the illusion of a larger collection than there actually is.
After beginning to play around with the arrangement of collections in my cabinet, I decided to start taking my collections out of their containers to see how they would work out of these barriers in the cabinet.
I therefore spread out all of my dried up lenses over the top shelf and my hair across the next one. The last shelf I left empty due to the fact of not being able to re-collect up my eyelashes perhaps and not really being able to see them, therefore losing them, which I didn’t want to do.
I feel that these collections work better spread out like this, with them actually being in contact with the cabinet and being able to see every invidual hair and lens. Whereas when in the containers the items are not as visual I feel. It’s more about the pots in a way. Whereas when left to in a way intrude in on the cabinet’s space it gives the abject feeling that the material is actually in contact with the cabinet and the space around it, which I feel is a bit more abject.
I decided to begin experimenting more with the cabinet now as it has been painted white. This now makes the cabinet less of a focus point and allows me to work better with the objects im using in the cabinet as I feel as I’m focusing more on the items inside rather than getting distracted so much by the dark frame.
Using my bottles where I have began collecting hair, contacts and eyelashes. I decided to arrange them all on the top shelve and then rearrange them with one on each shelf. I did this to see how these smaller collections would work in my cabinet. It gave it a different look, it was now more about what was inside the cabinet and how I explored the material in it. I don’t feel this arrangement really works, mainly due to the fact you cann not actually see the collections in the pots that well … Perhaps the material is too contained now.
I have began spray painting my toiletry bottles. Already they are looking a lot better I feel and am excited for them all to be done to experiment with the arrangement of them.
I bought the spray paint and began spraying them white. However as I am too impatient and wasn’t allowing enough time between coats before re-spraying and therefore making the paint drip. I was also having to apply more than about four coats to cover up all the branding which was on them. Karl pointed out to me that I needed a block colour as a base coat which I had no idea about. So I went along and bought a grey spray paint the next day which I found covered the branding in about two coats meaning I could then focus on the white after. This made my spraying a lot more easier and successful.
While waiting for the paint to dry Josh gave me some bottles of marker spray paint he didn’t need. This was of a much stronger consistency of paint and we found out that it coated the bottles in just one or two coats, meaning it was a lot easier painting them all! I need to touch up some bits on them to make the paint more even. I hope to do that Monday, providing on the weather. However I will make sure I masking tape the newspaper to floor and put plenty down this time to save me scrubbing the pavement…
