Journeys

A Day in Kodaikanal, Southern India  digital print   50 x 50 cm  2012

As an extension to the chance theme this photographic collage is the product of taking a photo every 5 minutes whilst on a day out in Kodaikanal, southern India.

 One of the photos

A Day in Torquay, Southern England  digital print  50 x 50 cm  2012

A similar exercise was carried out in Torquay, southern England, except that the time interval between photos was shorter.

One of the photos

In the manner of Anastasi, a large number of chance bus drawings were made on my commute to college. They involve looking out of the window with a pen poised over a sheet of card. This process was extended to the seven elements of my journey to India, as shown here.

Car journey on the way to Plymouth coach station, 20 minutes

Coach journey between Plymouth and Ivybridge, 30 minutes

Bus journey from Heathrow to the hotel, 20 minutes




















 Hoppa bus journey from hotel to Heathrow airport, 10 minutes

Flight from Heathrow to Dubai, taxiing and 

take off, 30 minutes

Flight from Dubai to Trivandrum, taxiing and take off, 

30 minutes

Minibus journey from Trivandrum airport to hotel, 30 minutes

By Chance

"And even though chance deals with the unexpected and the unplanned, it still has to be organised before it can exist". 

Robert Rauschenberg

"If one provokes chance the result is what it is". 
Reichardt

Kelly Revisited

coloured card on softboard

96 x 96 cm

2012

Pre-determined elements:

Use of card

Type of card

Use of square motif 

Size of cards (12 x12cm)

Number of squares on the whole sheet (8x8) 

Hence overall size (96x96cm) 

Colour of cards 

Number of cards to be put on the sheet (40) 

Proportion of different colours

Random elements:

Position of coloured squares on sheet 

Which colour goes where

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Kelly in Triangles
   coloured card
   59 x 60 cm
   2012
    
   

Pre-determined elements:

Use of card

Type of card

Range of colours

Overall square shape
Proportion of white to coloured triangles

Random elements:

Use  of triangles or rectangles

Number of rows and columns

Direction of diagonal line

Whether each triangle is coloured or white

Number of colours to use

Which colours of a range of 13

Which colour goes where

Kelly in Rectangles

coloured card

59 x 59 cm

2012

Pre-determined elements:

Use of card

Type of card

Range of colours
Use of rectangles

Overall square shape
Proportion of white to coloured rectangles
 
Random elements:

Number of rows and columns

Direction of dividing line

Whether each rectangle is coloured or white

Number of colours to use

Which colours of a range of 13

Which colour goes where

Democracy betrayed

Democracy Betrayed  installation (digital prints, magnifying glass, motion activated sound recorder) minimum dimension 1 x 2.5 m 2011

A black wall, two large (1 x 1 m) black and white digital prints sit evenly spaced in the space. 

The lefthand print (1 x 1 m) is made up of a million dot like marks - the estimated number of protesters in London, opposing the proposed Iraq war.

The date, seen vaguely, is 16th February 2003.

The right hand print (1 x 1 m) is made up of 125,000 dog tags, some black, the estimated 120,000 Iraqi dead and some white, the 5,000 allied troops dead.

Between them a magnifying glass attached to the wall. Scrutiny reveals a single dot.

As the observer moves closer a motion activated speaker, located above, reiterates in Blair's own words his insistence on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Sadam's Iraq. The recording finishes with the sound of bombing over Baghdad in the shock and awe campaign.

Picasso said it all.

Open Book

"It's like wandering about in a library where all the books are written in an indecipherable language"

Solaris, Stanislaw Lem, 1961

Open Book

installation (screen printed acetate sheet, printed silk, screen printed fabric, wax, 

plaster, mortar, flint & plaster, mirror, slumped float glass, kiln-cast glass, paint)

dimensions variable   2011

In a small neighbourhood library a large multi-coloured banner (book case height) directs customers towards a series of 18 books which use languages other than English. Not foreign languages, but languages some of us recognise and can use, but which most of us just find bewildering.

The banner is made up of sheets of over-lapping acetates which have been screen printed with samples of these languages.

In this detail can be seen

knitting,

maths,

music,

semaphore,

circuit board,

braille,

statistics

This detail has

shorthand,

html,

semaphore,

circuit board,

statistics.

The books are distributed about the library.

On one central table lie the majority of the small books,(all approximately 13 x 17 x 3 cm). 

Meanwhile the larger books (all approximately 21 x 31 x 3 cm) are situated in the window alongside the computers and daily papers.

Some individual examples:

Semaphore

slumped glass, wax, plastic

small book

Utopian

slumped glass, wax,

screen printed fabric

small book

Arabic

mirror, slumped glass

small book

Binary

kiln-cast glass

small book

Braille

cast flint and plaster

large book

English

kiln-cast glass, paint

small book

Reliefs

This image,as mentioned under the geometric paintings post, was used as a basis for an investigation into different materials and their reactions under certain stresses. The 'tiles' were made as reliefs.

The Collection

plaster, cement, mortar, steel, ice, perspex, alginate, float glass, wax, 

house sand, soil, 3/4s to dust, compost, beach sand, wood ash, 

estuarine tidal mud,leaf litter, fibre glass mesh, printed silk,

each minimally 17 x 17 x 2 cm

2011

A series was made in different materials. Where possible they were exposed to some form of distortion. A selection is given below

Mildly slumped float glass

 

Heavily slumped float glass

Steel

Wax

Slumped wax

Others were made in plaster embedded with different natural materials.

 A selection is given here.

House sand

Soil

Compost

Estuarine Mud

Glass sand casting

Toolkit  installation (workbench, welder's apron, sand cast glass)

dimensions variable   2010

 Early evening

                                                                     Late evening

  Glass Tools

 

From left to right:

Ball Pein Engineer's Hammer, cast glass, 37.5 x 14 x 3 cm, 2010

Flat Rasp, cast glass, 52 x 10 x 2.5 cm, 2010

Cross Pein Hammer, cast glass, 28 x 11.5 x 2.5 cm, 2010

Stilson Wrench, cast glass, 26 x 11 x 3 cm, 2010

Nails

sand cast glass, lamp 
worked glass, copper wire

10 x 7.5 x 3.5 cm

2010

Clematis

glass with plant inclusions

12.5 x 14 x 2 cm

2010

Juncus

glass with plant and copper inclusions

19 x 8 x 3.5 cm

2010

Liminal spaces

Your Place in Time

installation, (human hair, magnifying glass, 

tape deck, lamp, 10 miles of continuous

audio tape, helium balloons)

size various

2010

A human hair lies illuminated and magnified against a section of audio tape, the hair visible through a magnifying glass.

The width of the hair is taken to be 70 years, a normal human lifespan.

The tape is moving slowly, very slowly through the tape deck. Using the hair as a reference point the tape is moving one millimetre every 700 years.

Each side of the deck the tape is seen to be continuous with a lot of tape.

10 miles of continuous tape is draped over 2 plinths and spills out onto the floor.

The length of tape represents the estimated life of the solar system on the same scale as the human hair, with the tape taking 700 years to move one millimetre.

 

The finished piece seen at an exhibition             and in the studio.

Stepping out of line

installation (found objects, plaster casts,

video, acrylic paint on canvas)

size various

2010

The middle of the road is truly a liminal space, a 'no go' area for all except the cat's eyes.

These cat's eyes are in their original state, well not quite.

The rubber cat's eye in front of the metal ones here was used as a model for a series of plaster ones.

The  plaster ones form a colony who are protesting.

  
 

The cats eyes are seen in a low light, with a video of a night time road scene forming the backdrop.There is chaos, but freedom, as the cat's eyes protest and leave their station.