#facpidea

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INTERNATIONALLY is this BIG enough?

This has distinct possibilities for exhibition application - can become site-specific by the choice of cardboard used - i.e, Coventry’s twinning with both Dresden and Stalingrad (these three cities being the most war damaged in WW2) would mean if I could obtain printed boxes with German, Russian and English corporate identity, would not only be saying  ENOUGH to war but also post-war capitalism?

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I D E A

natural soft fibre (manilla) rope sculpted to look like the gyri and sulci folds of the brain -  set at head height on a stand which itself stands on a plinth - one end of the rope, however, has unravelled from the brain and is coiling on the floor in front of the plinth

this soft Japanese silk rope comes in various colours - interestingly the connotations of the chosen colour might reflect the thought within the brain that causes it to unravel. Black might represent either depression or evil - dark thoughts while red . . . .

might represent either passion or dangerous thoughts -  it is the colour of blood

In either case, the rope has a very sensuous feel. it’s made of silk and is soft to the touch - whichever colour used, interpretation is offered ambiguously . . is the black sad, sadistic/erotic, depressive/suicidal? Is the red devilish, dangerous, criminal, suicidal or in some way damaged?

With some experimentation, the black rope, for instance, might be gradually bleached out so that as it leaves the brain the colour drains from it and the coil on the floor is white 

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let’s not speak too soon

l e t ‘ s  n o t   s p e a k    t o o    s o o n - an idea in developement

This is a strange one! To say or predict something that might not happen or turn out to be true or correct - often used in the past tense “spoke too soon”, here it is used in the present tense and is offered free of context and unrelated. It offers a future event or time that is unspecified - when might it become spoke too soon?

It creates a suspension of time or has a liminal feel, as if something is about to happen

There’s something autobiographical about it - not just to me, but to anyone reading it. We’ve all done it and ‘spoken too soon’

maybe displayed with sound effect

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A R T  loves you x

Billboard signage

Art is huge. It’s a thing bigger than any one of us even the art biggies from Rembrandt to Emin or Hirst. Although it’s hard for anyone to say exactly what ART is most people believe it to be a beautiful thing. Like any god it’s intangible and like many of the monotheist gods, there is no single, if any at all, image for it - you cannot say what ART looks like. 

To state that ‘ART loves you’ is to, somehow, endow it with a persona, for otherwise how could it love you? Its size makes it somewhat maternal or paternal - personally I think it is more akin to Mother Earth type deities and therefore feels rather 

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the benefit of all my doubts

A beaten up vintage fire bucket hangs from a hook, an attractive object in its own right. However, the inside of the bucket is pristine. It has a modern mirrored finished that seems incongruous with the tatty exterior. The bucket is filled with clean water and in the water swims a single, bright, lustrous goldfish.

Above the bucket there is a large tinplate enamel sign, which normally might have instructions about what to do in the event of fire, this however reads: 

THE BENEFIT OF ALL MY DOUBTS

The title is a play on ‘to give the benefit of the doubt’ - this is an expression that means to trust or believe someone or something even though there is uncertainty or doubt. What does it mean in this instance? Is it self directed or directed elsewhere?

As a sign it refers to the object displayed below in the same way that a ‘what to do in case of fire’ sign would refer to the Fire Bucket. That it is a Fire Bucket is significant. It infers another expression, that of ‘firefighting’ which can be defined as a short term fix or suppression of problems rather than addressing the factors that cause the problem. That it is an old battered Fire Bucket is also significant. It infers a time scale, perhaps a lifetime of ‘firefighting’.

Yet, the inside of this aged bucket is immaculate. It has a mirrored finish and is filled with water in which swims a beautiful, lustrous goldfish. It presents a meditative, contemplative contrast to the battered, almost worn out exterior with its evidence of  much used appearance.

In China and Japan the goldfish is seen as a positive symbol for wealth, abundance and good luck. Along with the pristine interior, echoing the Japanese quest for perfection, and together they depict a purity. The water is perfectly clean, unpolluted and the goldfish healthy and swimming happily around unaffected by anything that might have happened on the outside - or so it appears.

Questions might arise as to the continued well being of the goldfish if kept in this environment. Has it already been replaced? How often is it fed and by who? How often is it cleaned? Is it lonely or confused by its own continually reflected image?

It refers to self-doubts, an obsessive pursuit of perfection or idealism. Is it autobiographical or does it refer to the viewer?

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u n t i t l e d

If I look at a painting of an elephant I am looking at a depicted noun. I will know, describe and categorize what I am seeing using the word elephant.  Along with the word comes everything I might know about elephants, facts and information that is not visible within the painting - an essence that is elephant. However what if the title of this work was 'in the room'? Everything changes, the 'essential' is redirected towards an awkward situation. The elephant depicted becomes an incidental, the only property of elephant that we need to know is that they are so big that if one were in the room it would be difficult to deny its presence. Every other property would be incidental - a depiction of the parched African savannah, bright equatorial sunshine, large ears and tusks become superfluous. But what if the word E L E P H A N T took up the whole wall of a gallery space? Would it need to be titled, "In the Room"? Possibly not. The gallery visitor would be far more rewarded by the title, "U N T I T L E D" which would leave them to come to their own conclusions as to what the piece was about - for instance why has this artist left this piece untitled or is, in fact, titled 'untitled'?

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U P    all versions

‘ U P ‘  against the wall 

so it’s meaningless shite! does that matter that there is no societal political issue that underlies - I GUESS THERE COULD BE? We’re all up against it at the moment. So if it were a ‘serious’ piece it would need to be in serious colours - maybe I’ll do a black version OR . . . as Mr H suggested reflective vinyl on steel zinc or aluminium sheet.

What does the substrate say if it’s metal - hard, unforgiving, reflective, cold

What if the negative space shapes were cut outs? 

That could be good - you’d see the wall underneath - the sheet could be left outside to rust and weather - apparently it doesn’t take that long

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UP3 full bleed