Show build

Putting an exhibition together takes a lot of hard work but with 5 exhibitors, the long laborious tasks of clearing the space, striping walls, filling holes, sanding surfaces and painting is lightened by all pitching in. There was also a fantastic 2 person technical crew assembling new spaces and making the space work which was a fantastic benefit, thanks Martin and Paul.

Once the space was clear and ready for install everyone went off into their own creative place to get on with making work. For myself I had to wait on a team to install a scaffold structure for me to begin assembling my work. In the space this structure which stretches into the rafters begins the motion of install. The scaffolding acts a point of reference for my work, placing it a built environment. The structure was purposely finished with an outdoors, street safe finish, meaning it has bright yellow foam over the poles and yellow caps on the ends and over fixings. This makes it safer to be around. Further to contextualising my work in the setting of construction and reusable structures it also acts as a huge platform to hang work.

I have been printing onto long rolls of Monarflex (plastic sheeting typically seen on scaffolding at a building site) that needs to hang at height in the space. Scaffolding seemed the perfect frame to display this work. Several ways of showing the prints were tried out in order to edit the work and various ways of using the Monarflex on the structure was also tried. Working with the materials in the space is an instinctive process so sometimes its wrong or build into something else but it allows the work to develop and take form in the space.

During this set up I needed to source a filling for 100 printed rubble bags. I decided on something low impact for the environment, wood chip mulch. Roughly half was sourced from a farm and will be returned after the show, the other half was purchased from a shop and will be donated to a garden afterwards. A few hours were spent collecting the mulch and putting it into the bags. More time was then spent letting the bags dry out and then they were placed. They are divided into two forms. One reminiscent of a tall tower block where flats are stacked on top of each other, is comprised of filled sand bags stacked and placed in a corner of the gallery. This stack leans into the corner with the printed balconies on show at about 2 metres in height. The other is more a reflection of a long low rise housing block. This kind of block is similar to the one where the image printed onto the bags was taken from. This form resembles more a sand bag trench or wall and creates a divide in the narrow space it inhabits. The placement purposely interjects into the walking space so that the form and image present them selves as an obstacle or nuisance, not unlike the real building. Hopefully in this space the viewer will think about the process of making the work. All of the bags the same, all printed in the same way, some crisper and clearer, others creased or darker in tone. Repetition, banality and labour all factor in too. These bags all look new but are the result of never being being used before being donated to my project, forgotten about in a garage.

There will be more posts about this work coming soon after the show opens because there are more printed and sculptural elements included that can be written about. Also im sure there will be great conversations in the week to come to reflect on, in particular on Sunday 7th with artist Josie Cockram who will host an open discussion in the space with the artists and public.