Tension

I'm very interested in space and how we can use it to create different atmospheres.

10 frames, 5 were placed on one wall and the other on the opposite. The cubes in the frame opposite to one frame fit into the other to create a 6 by 6 square. So they are in pairs, they are together. We can tell that they should be together and that's why the space that causes the separation is now charged with tension, with the want to be with.

Confinement. (WIP)

I count this to be a mock up of a planned sculpture.

The plan is to make the same thing but far larger and in thick sheet metal. I want it to be 1 by 1 by 1m. The rods going up and coming down will be metal tubing welding on the sheets.

It's about space and confinement. The rods obstruct movement into the cube and our vision creating stillness within it. The space, the air within it is still.

Kind of references confinement in people's lives and the feeling of claustrophobia that we feel due to this. The rods are bearing down on us, they trap us. This can be due to excessive order (which is why I chose to make a cube which is an extremely ordered geometric shape), from external influences. 

The ideas aren't polished yet but... well... I'll see where this takes me.

Equal But Seperate

The culmination of my research into the creation of true, perfect repetition.

This piece deals with different ideas. First is repetition and the idea of in-ex-changeability. I threw 5 pots on the wheel and then made plaster moulds of each of them, then I cast 25 of each of these 5 so I had 125 pots in total. The process of casting is supposed to create perfect replicas but upon casting I found that each cast pot was different so they were true repeats, being in-exchangeable. With the last 50, I wanted to also reinforce the idea of difference by subtracting bits of one pot and adding it to another.

I knew I wanted the pots on the floor but the studio floor is dirty so I decided to separate the pots from their surrounding with a physical barrier, hence metal tiles. Metal because of the contrast between the clay of the pot and concrete (or whatever) of the floor. This allows the pots to exist in their own world but yet exists also in our plane.

The work therefore becomes about segregation, the idea of 'we are all separate but equal.' In the past 'coloured' people were separated from the whites, this though dissolved over time. At least it was supposed to. There is still segregation between the races. Speaking as a black man I think that most black people always have the idea that we need to be different from our white counterparts. Youth, especially. We reference our cultural background and our historical background as reasons to be separate.

Even more obvious is the situation with homosexuals. While nowadays most people have come to accept us as 'normal' we are still not equal to the heterosexuals. We all know about the fight for marriage equality (though some people call it gay marriage though this create further separation) and the fact that in far too many countries homosexuality is still illegal; that in some parts of America it is completely fine to fire someone based on their sexual orientation.

But, just like these pots, because we are all true repeats of each other, we are in-exchangeable, irreplaceable, exactly the same, we should treat each other accordingly. We should not focus on that which is different because being true repeats there are going to be differences but that is normal, these differences should be acknowledged because they make everyone unique not 'frowned upon'.

These thoughts only occurred to me as I made this work and I would like to continue looking at these ideas in further works.

Repetition: Process III

I then wanted to manipulate the process which creates exactly the same thing every time it's used to create something different every time.

I printed the design I created for the screenprint (previous post) onto these identical photographs but randomly, this created non-identical prints. The idea of sameness is carried on through the identical photographs and the use of a single design. Every single one is therefore the same but different.

Repetition: Process II

Continuing on from the idea that repetition is all about in-ex-changeability, I wanted to use a process that creates the same thing over and over again.

All the prints are exactly the same (ignoring the little errors that were bound to happen: leaks and streaks). The entire piece is composed of 25 screenprints, dimensions about 2.5m x 2m. They spanned an entire wall creating a visual experience or the viewer. It is impossible to focus on one print and therefore the piece is constantly 'changing' creating repetition in that though they are the same, they are different because of the way we see them.

Repetition: Process I

Giles Deleuze said that repetition is distinct from generality because within repetition every item, idea, etc, is in-exchangeable so I wanted to explore this through different processes.

I started with monoprinting and used the same motions and inks to create repetition. Each print is distinct yet the same because of the process used to create it.

Repetition: Adam and Eve

Work in progress.

Repetition: Adam and Eve

I wanted to explore repetition within the human after reading an article on Rad Hourani, a fashion designer who creates unisex garments. He was working on the idea that man and woman are essentially the same which made me think that we are all repeats of each other. True repeats because of the discrepancy within our DNA. We are all repeats of Adam and Eve. We are all, obviously, in-exchangeable: our personalities are different. When we die nothing, no one can ever replace us and I think that the idea of in-ex-changeability is so true with humans.