Rebuilding and Refocusing

Hijack! was a success. The whole experience of the exhibition was pleasant and rewarding. Something that I am now very aware of when taking part in group exhibitions is the need for my work to be shown in the correct context. This was certainly the case here. The show was well curated with a dialogue between the all the work. It all fitted well. The exhibition looked really great, and the turn out for the private view was really great, the venue was packed and there were some positive comments and good conversations. It was also really great not to have to pay submission fees and to have my expenses paid. It made me as an artist feel much more valued.

For this exhibition, I showed two pieces. An older hanging drawing piece in the main space, and a new tower piece in the second space. I had planned for my tower piece to be somewhat different to how it panned out. Initially, it was to be titled Descent, and in appearance would have emerged from the damaged ceiling, smashing and breaking apart onto the floor. Due to technical limitations with the space, and a weak ceiling, my idea had to adapt slightly. There is no lean on this tower, nor is it falling apart. My idea shifted to something being built rather than falling apart. This funnily enough ties in with my current state of mind quite well, as I am attempting to re-build my life and practice, as a friend of mine pointed out.

The idea centred around the damaged ceiling, as I’d originally planned. However, rather than having a tower descending from this hole, the ceiling was used as an obstacle, I thought of this:

As the tower builders got to the ceiling (atmosphere?), they attempted to cut through, to continue to build, this however failed to happen. Perhaps this was too big an obstacle, too strong a boundary, or maybe something happened before they could escape through to ascension.

It’s still quite Babelesque, and also reminded me of failed designs of a space elevator that I had read about over the Summer. From earlier research, I became fascinated by the ideas of failed attempts of ascension, and this tower piece represents a failed attempt of ascension, a last desperate attempt to escape the confines of this reality. The piece was called Descent in the handout, but I’ve since re-titled it to Ascent, as it seems to fit better. Thinking more, maybe Failed Ascent is more appropriate. I’ll have a think. I did like the idea that this piece was essentially a drawing with a ridiculous support. It was quite a simple piece that glowed in a dark space.

Next week I will talk more about how I have been rebuilding my practice, and what is coming up next to make that so, which is the aim of this blog of course. There is potentially some exciting times ahead.

The last week or so has seen me planning out my new piece of work for the Hijack! exhibition. The new work is still based around the idea of an inverted tower, with the top of the tower smashing into the ground as it enters ‘our space’. Planning this thing has all been through drawings in my sketchbook and by building small models out of card and matchsticks. The actual making of the piece has been split into two stages. Working outdoors I have precut all the sections of the tower, so that it should hopefully be assembled in sections. In theory, this should go smoothly. It’s been a different way of working, having relied solely on drawings and small models and then my measurements and maths skills. I haven’t actually seen the built work yet, so tomorrow afternoon should be interesting. The tower is currently in two flat packed bundles awaiting transport to the space tomorrow.

This is a different way of me making this kind of work. As I made the previous towers, I was in the space and had the luxury of weeks to play around, alter and add bits. It wasn’t a very efficient way of working, it was all very hapzard and the towers took on a life of their own as the evolved over the Summer. It feels more clinical working everything out on paper first but hopefully I’ll find a more happy medium in the future, but this more planned route is definately (and obviously in hindsight) the way forward. The proposals that I have recently been writing have been put together with this mode of working in mind. This hopefully allows me to continue to make large work in a more manageable way.