I have started to reflect back on my work of the past 12 months, in part as I would normally through self-critique but also with the aim of reassessing work that could be taken further, possibly into the MA. Due to finding it hard to create ‘new’ works it seems that this could be a solution to the problem of maintaining momentum.
A work made recently, Grandfather Clock, consists of my own interpretation of the clock, its function and the relationship I have with ‘time‘ as a frustrating social system. It consists of a performance, a recording of me counting the number of days (upwards) from the date of installation and an automated saw mechanism that slowly cuts through the speaker cable (mirroring the motion of a grandfather clock’s pendulum). It seemed initially as a humorous (albeit dark) way of estimating life expectancy, as the works’ demise could be given an arbitrary number and day. The recent passing of my own grandfather makes the work now have an altogether more serious and stronger resonance. In this respect the work takes on the form of memorial. In re-addressing the work I have decided that it should now be encased within the body of an original grandfather clock (with internals already removed!). This embodiment and memorialization re-personalises the work, its content re-enforced. The metamorphosis to effigy creates for me (perhaps only me) a heightened feeling of mysticism around the work.
Watching a recent recording of Prof. Richard Dawkins “The Enemies of Reason“ (Channel 4 television), I felt slightly uncomfortable with his encouragement of a world where the decisions of humanity are made on the sole basis of rational thought. Where does this leave the artist ? As Sol LeWitt said,
“Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach …. Illogical judgements lead to new experiences” (Sentences on Conceptual Art,1969).
I am not advocating the proliferation of capitalist ’mystics’ (mediums, mind readers etc), who make profit from false claims, but clearly their appearance in society describes part of the human psyche. Is art a positive outcome of irrationality ? Certainly for me, a critique on the notion of progress through science and its über-lieutenant technology make for an interesting place to develop my work.
