University Campus Suffolk

This month I have my second exhibition at The Freudian Sheep gallery[1] in Ipswich. I have two pieces in the show again made from the combination of wood and rope. They are visually similar to a lot of my pieces that make use of the same bits of wood, but this is because the long planks of wood are in my opinion very visually pleasing and I seem to use them over and over again. Using the wood as a base to involve the rope around I have continually been using the same wood but trying to find new and interesting ways to interact with the rope.

Curling the rope around itself into a spiral was my very first and initial process so in this piece I have tried to find alternative methods of using the rope, piling it up against the wall, knotting the rope into a messy pile and curling it around the wood in a different shape or pattern. I may consider platting the rope and weaving it into something like the rope ladder I made last year.

So far in this project I have restricted myself to just the two materials to focus the attention of a really specific element, and to focus the attention on simplicity, but I have recently bought two large bags of soil. I have been looking at materials that I could add to the composition and I have decided that soil would be a perfect material and substance to use with wood and rope.
The composition between the rope and the wood is well balanced and if I am to find a third compositional element it has to complement the wood and rope. My initial thoughts were soil/dirt or stone. Stone is a material often used by Minimalists but I felt that it was too ridged and would simple carry the same role as the wood (to be a structural element in which to build the rope around), so I felt that soil would me a more flexible material, that can be moulded and ‘placed’ into different compositions.

An Artist that uses materials like soil, dirt and other materials found on the land is Robert Smithson. I remembered seeing his work last year at the Tate Modern, a piece entitled ‘, Rocks and mirror square II’ ( 1971) and his uses the compositing between mirrors and earth materials.
So far I have simply been creating mounds of dirt around the wooden planks and a few other bits of wood to see how his effect looks and how it interacts with other materials, and Smithson has a few pieces that carry the same visual effect such as ‘Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust’ ( 1968) and ‘Leaning Mirror’ (1969). Firstly his 1968 piece is a wonderful composition that interacts with the edge of the gallery wall, and for me the main interest is the situation the gravel close to, but not touching the wall, and the preciseness of the placing of the two elements I find visually satisfying. The second piece is perhaps more interesting in relation to my intentions for my own work, the mirror propped up and balanced by a small mound of sand. One rectangular and ridged material supported by another, structurally unstable material. This is exactly the compositional effect I had in mind when considering soil as a usable material. The soil supporting the wood and in turn the wood supporting the rope, providing a continuity and flow between all three materials.

[1] The Freudian Sheep Gallery http://freudiansheep.co.uk/

My initial intention is to create a piece of work that is visually and perhaps physically sufficient enough in its wholeness to sustain an interest from a viewer. Through the materials of wood and rope I have begun to explore this idea, creating something that can hold itself as an art object with the use of pattern and identifiable shapes. Giving focus to the simplicity of the work and its constructed materials, I am trying to create a visual depth to the raw materials through process and reduction.

Behind the finished object and its intent to be sufficient in itself, I have also developed an interest in the process of making that object. Because of the minimalistic and reductive approach that I have given to the work, the use of material has been really reductive, meaning that a natural attention to process has developed. This is primarily due to the natural properties of rope. Rope is a very ‘usable’ material in that it can be used for many things, but these uses are often repetitive. To wrap, to knot or to pull the rope, these are all repetitive actions and through making work I have inevitably been performing these actions time and time again. These physical interactions bring me closer to the material, but they also focus my attention of performing these actions.

Richard Serra’s list of process words has highlighted the significance of my working process. In order for me to create work I become very involved in the material, and working with its physical properties I begin working in a very repetitive motion. This is a continuous use and is reflective of Richard Serra’s list of actions. ‘To twist, to curl, to bend’ are a few actions that I incessantly go through the motion of doing, and this physical handling of the material (in particular to the rope) brings me closer to fulfilling my intention to experience a material.