'Brutal Pattern' at TOPOS for Art Week Exeter 2017

Inspired by Site, Brutal Architecture and Repeat process I looked into exhibiting my most recent body of work 'Brutal Pattern' for Art Week Exeter 2017 (AWE) at a site in the city with "brutal" character. Entering into talks with AWE organiser Stuart early in the year a picture of a space began to develop. Very quickly, in a matter of weeks, Stuart came back to me with a space called TOPOS. I had heard of this artist lead space and looked up whenever walking along Sidwell Street knowing it was based there to see if I could spot it but could never figure out which windows this space was behind.

Sidwell street. Building containing TOPOS.

Not quite knowing what my work would become I developed the project with no knowledge of the space it would inhabit. Working with several images of Brutal Architecture and several ways of printing them. Slowly discovering scale and surface with relation to boxes the project was forming. One big stride came when I finally saw the TOPOS space for myself. Meeting around the corner from the entrance to the space and making the trip behind the commercial buildings past the loading bays, bins and concrete to a metal staircase. Once inside a series of corridors and a staircase lead us to the second floor studio/gallery space. Here I figured out where I was in relation to the street and marvelled at such a large secret space in the city that was given over to art. After looking around I was asked how I felt about being given the smaller sectioned off area in the corner of the gallery, open at the front and walled off at the side this space was about the size of a single car garage. This space thrilled me. It was challenging in scale and was not a space where I could easily attach anything into the wall, which is what my practice previously would have required. A new set of challenges had been presented.

Working in Plymouth as part of my masters studies I progressed with the idea of printing images onto boxes and creating a structure, the whole time having the TOPOS space in mind. This space informed many important decisions that had to be made regarding the development of my project. As it turned out I would only see the space once before I completed the work and once more before I installed the work. So I was continually questioning how many boxes I would need to print onto in order to fill the space adequately to achieve my aim of making an engulfing experience that towered above the viewers.

Finally I began working with the image of a Structural Cladding Unit from Exeter Civic Centre located one street away from the space and within sight through the window. The context of state driven concrete architecture was set. Taking into account the urban nature of 'Brutal Pattern' paired with the exclusivity of the Civic Centre, the TOPOS location and system of access added to my work. The act of approaching the space in this back street and being escorted through the rear of the building before even reaching the work began to set a context for a viewer. Arriving at the space and seeing a structure made up of images of concrete finally rewards the viewer with having searched out for the space.

Being encouraged to enter the work by use of sight lines leading deeper into the recess and round a corner made of printed boxes, the viewer is faced with an alternative architectural space within the gallery. Once inside the viewer is confronted with repeat pattern, concrete illusion, detail, height, space and the correlation between card and concrete. Once more bolstered in the context of the surrounding space, white painted breeze block walls, crudely pointed concrete and the wider space, similar qualities with added support columns.

Clearly this work was developed with the site of TOPOS in mind but each element of this urban space added to the richness of the work. From the location and exclusive access, to the exhibitor lead invigilation. This versatile space allowed a well curated exhibition to take place where viewers were exposed to an experience of seeing art that differed to the norm in Exeter. They were entered into a space that they initially had to seek out and invest time in entering. Then rewarded with work that in part added comment to their experience of the architecture they were surrounded by in this part of the city.

In addition to the installed work, I made limited edition Zines to take away as guides to the space and theory of the process. These Zines, similar to the printed boxes were made in a production line style, mass produced and hand finished. The whole project, including the making of the work and the zine echoed the process used to made the building it represented. Manufactured on mass off site, transported and assembled. The zine helped to highlight this with information inside that detailed the manufacturing of the structural cladding units.

This exhibition was a great stride for my practice as it allowed me to work on a new scale and with new materials. It propelled my professional development and allowed me to meet interesting new creative people.