Morgan et Shiember

Iron Maiden, 2007

Open Painting, 2008

I've seen this approach of taking something 2D for the wall or for the floor and allowing it to become 3D as it enters the space. Certainly nothing as well executed as these works though.

wow.

Some really inspiring stuff over at www.morganetschiember.com

do icebergs melt?

Melt, 2009

Melt, 2009 (detail)

The thick white gloss paint applied to the polystyrene gives a super slick and clean finish to the icebergs. The shimmering surface makes the icebergs look wet all the time while the thickness of the paint connects the object seamlessly to the surface it sits on. They are one surface, a movement from the 3D upright structure to the 2D liquid surface on the plinth. Something I really like about this peice is how i didnt even question whether a block of ice would be 100% white (especially at this scale), it would more likley be frosted and clear. This reinforces the fact that this is more an idea of how a situation would be, as if I've asked someone to visualise the scenario through a description and transformed this vision into a physical thing. sort of running a real life thing through the formula of ' the real -> an idea of the real -> this idea made back into the real '. I'm thinking about a child's drawings were the sun is a yellow ball with yellow beams coming out of it.

Tim Bennett

Stephanie (Dulux Jungle Ginger 1)

I've been working towards my grad show for a little while now and I know I've mentioned my plan to construct an intervention in the gallery space in the form of a life sized conveyor belt system. I've realised that to have a dramatic affect on the room, with to have all the parts of the conveyor system I've opted to include, would take up far too much of the shared space that is our group show. I was introduced to Tim Bennett's work as an alternative way of displaying my idea. The conveyor system was never meant to be a functioning thing, infact quite the opposite. What I learnt from looking at Tim's work is that things can function without taking the literal format of what they mimik. The subtle suggestion in Tim's refined objects is a communication of a function at a more intelligent and sophisticated level. Its the shape and size of the corrigated panels which lead us to believe they are made of something more robust than the fragile plaster board they turn out to be. I understood that I wasnt required to illustrate a literal conveyor belt system to voice my ideas. In fact with a semi constructed scene consisting of parts that hint towards this final image there was alot more going on. The work functioned on the basis of my choices, the dialogue between material and the context to which it was installed is what activated the work and these links between what is present and the potential for things to happen is far more interesting.

my own cardboard box...

Cardboard box, 2009

What has the 'making' brought to this work? Why would someone spend time making an object which already exists and is readily available? Not only readily available but as disposable and cheap as a cardboard box. Because I have invested this time and care into the box have i raised the the worth of this box? It may now have have more elegance and sculptural presence than the average cardboard box with its gloss painted interior and propt up presentation but essentially it functions no differently than any other cardboard box, its designed to contain an object of interest. I feel by treating the box in this manner and displaying it in this way I've offered the box itself as the object of interest, something that functions not only as a box but as a sculptural object.

"Again with these materials they can be flattened, and recycled, the worth comes not from the material but from it's relationships with itself and it's installed contexts." Michelle Allard

Real Icebergs?

I recently took the oppertunity of a light snowfall to photograph my icebergs in a more recognized setting for a block of ice and to see what happened with this change of context. Ive always enjoyed the dialogues we strike up when adding to a specific site and have always had somewhat of an issue with showing work in a gallery space and losing this level to the work. In this case the chosen sites were informed by the object (the iceberg), an attempt to seduce the idea that what we are presented with is actually occuring. These experiments also brought me around to the idea of what displaying in photographs can bring to my work on both conceptual and technical levels. A photograph is a record of an actual event and we all know how the saying goes 'the camera never lies' but we also know this is not the case. A photograph can add a certain level of control to what infomation is communicated and can tweak the truth through this emphasisation.

Thankyou Jordan Baseman.... and Picasso

At a recent talk hosted by Jordan Baseman he was talking about how his editing of real footage gave him the ability to lie by tweaking the truth. Somebody in the audience asked why it was important to do this. He answered by saying because this is art, art is atifice, art is artificial.............

it seems so obvious a link but it was a link i had never consciously made, it also allowed me to make sense of what i am actually doing with my work, tweaking the real to present an altered perception of it.

"An artist lies to find a new kind of truth" Pablo Picasso

Special delivery

Special Delivery, 2009

the decision to construct the pallet from cardboard pushes this work to a stronger position for communication of my ideas. Now the entire work is a made thing. Its a mimik of the real but in a situation which would never occur. The materials used are straight from manufacture, so fresh infact that they lack certain qualities of the "real world" and this seems to reinforce the falseness of the situation I've put them in. As packaging materials they hold a reference to protection and insulation of items during travel, this assosiation makes sense of being part of this delivery scenario. Although when considered at greater length there are many floors to what we have been presented; cardboard would not survive in the role of a pallet and shows no signs of going through this role. Although there is a product being delivered on the pallet it is made from a material used to protect the product. Again with the iceberg, it has a history of making epic journeys but the idea of it being delivered in this manner is implausable.