Hi Blog,
I’ve had a lovely day in the sun on Sun (no, Scotland is not constantly in a state of eclipse) and I am treating myself to a roast; in oven. I went for a stroll on Law Hill today (once volcano, lush views of the river Tay) Unfortunately, The Law caught fire due to dastardly kids. Luckily, there was an old war veteran to distract me from the fumes with tales of bayonets and small Chinese children on the end of them.
So, art-wise I am in my degree show space now. Before I go into details (next entry) I just wanted to introduce my wooden sculptures; known as Wooden Skaletrix. I started to assemble and construct these last summer. Initially, I intended them to be simple hardboard stretchers to be painted on in the style of Base One and 2. (See image below, Blog 1.) However, having exhibited The Opium Room exhibition, 2004, two particular site-specific installations influenced their development.
Odd Rite Out, entailed mimicking and extending the patterning on the gallery floor with my clay Buddha incense burners and wax coated wooden chopstick like figures; a comment on absurd spirituality. Meanwhile, SinOpsis was a wooden structure revealing the advance of mighty China into the west and our perception of Eastern myths and identity. The central wooden structure was hollow at its core, it splintered into a myriad of wall paintings and small post-it collage doodles that opened up endless viewing possibilities.
So, in terms of Wooden Skaletrix, I see these as an extension of these ideas. Immediately, once in the workshop, I did not want to stop at a flat canvas. I call them Skaletrix because of the simple notion of freedom a child has when constructing in his fantasy land, without constraint and imbued with wonder- pieces of plastic could lead to a whole new inhabitable dimension. Wooden Skaletrix have grown in this way, becoming 3-d objects that have odd, redundant attachments, some with plaster bodies, and collage tinted with day-glo glory.
The technique behind Wooden Skaletrix reflects this idea of assemblage, they are between the aesthetics and implementation of factory automation. The streamlined, functional, engineered, efficiency of factory product, Skaletrix is blocked by my hob-nobbled creative individual touch, much in the spirit of West or Fischli and Weiss.
Here is some background info on my wooden sculptures, still in transition of becoming.
Base 1 and Two, Gloss and acrylic on hardboard. Base 1: 110x110cm Base Two: 112x82cm, 12/2004
Base 1 and Two form a diptych most explicitly dealing with my rupture with flat canvas surface and its limits in a Murray/Dunham sculptural/cartoon horror revolt. Both canvases, biomorphic in shape, have morphed one from other. Dimension and canvas limits are treated with opposing techniques; Base 1 oozes primordial chemistry, paint is visceral, glossy, so good you want to lick it.
Base Two’s language is a mobile dream, the luscious colour spectrum encircles order; linear progression of a-b-z-s logic. Space is given utmost importance; logical formatting and sculptural doodles tightly process gender and multiplicity. Social and political aggression is denigrated beneath the surface, but one can sense chaotic id vibrating beneath candy artifice.
Wooden Skaletrix
Part of an ongoing series; Wooden Skaletrix are the genderless complements of the plaster blobs; hybrid forms that have morphed from the molecules of scrap around us, attempting to complete their half-baked journey into almost something.
Work in progress; these naked structures are raw, both in the choice of materials- mdf, hardboard, wood filler- cheap, accessible, and conducive to exposing their making process. Some will have plaster growths protruding from their sides, or found neon cabling, or other such objects embedded into or extending from them. Their biomorphic history will be mapped onto them through hints of collaged doodles, (pencil, pen, gloss).
Falling short of useful, assertive identity they sit at differing heights, levels and dimensions, taunting the viewer to adjust their own physical position to fathom their puzzling characteristics. They goad possible ingenious function, yet ultimately reside in useless states of being; a modern day reinterpretation of urinal aesthetic.
I hope this is slowly beginning to give you some understanding of what my art is about. Let me know when you find out. Blog soon.
