Loughborough College of Art thesis show

Installation view, June 1997

This photograph shows the second room of two that comprised my thesis show for Loughborough College of Art and Design (now Loughborough University) which i attended from 1994 – 97. Although it might not be immediately apparent i graduated with a BA Hons in Painting. This image shows the three key sculptural contributions to the exhibit. I’m ont entirely clear on the titles for the pieces anymore, but as i dig thru the “archive” i’l ltry and remedy that.

The three pieces were conceived of as a suite of sculptural works each complimenting and playing off the others. I was really influenced by artists like David Smith and Robert Morris at the time. I designed the installation around ideas related to  my body (and the human form in general), working process and to a lesser degree physical exertion. I excavated all the material used in this installation, apart from a wee bit of wood. My mine head was in the parking lot behind the studio buildings and i could be seen digging and moving with my wheel barrow most days and weekends.

The long piece on the ground was meant to be something that we could have “power” over, in the sense that u could walk over it easily / trample on and destroy it easily. Behind this piece which i think was titles “fulcrum” or “pivot” or something along those lines, is the mud ball pyramid.This was intended to “Activate” the room, being both taller than any person at approx 8 feet and have a significant prtesence on the floor 4 feet square, so that it formed a bridge of sorts between the floor and the ceiling. to the right of both the floor and pyramid pieces is a column of earth. This piece was a play on the idea David Smith coined of creating something that is close to the same height of a person, so that on tip toes one can see over it, but standing normally it’s perhaps a little intimidating. in this fashion the installation as a whole was intended to engage the viewer physically from above, below and around.

The pyramid piece was, i think, titled “A Process of Repetition,” a good solid student-y title….. but i dunno that’s what it was. i’ll talk about this piece in more detail another time. There are several aspects about it that i still enjoy to this day, mostly quirks of the process of making that later would result in imperfections in the form, these variances are represented in the form and i have always considered them a vital part of the final piece. i’ll post about this specifically as soon as i can find a stand alone image of this piece.

to the right of the mudball pyramid is a rectangular piece that in many ways looks like a core sample extracted from the earth. for this piece i also plan to post an image and a detailed analysis, but suffice to say this piece was probably my fav from the show, tho’ the mud balls are a close close second. i designed the “core sample,” title forgotten for now, much the same way concrete is poured into a form. Plywood box, in two parts, filled with successive layers of dirt. a “sol le wit” type space frame was inserted into the mold first, it’s dimensions such that it fit exactly in side, flush to the walls of the form. i thought i would need this in order to keeep it upright but later when i deinstalled the piece it became apparent that the piece did a fine job of standing up by itself. even so, i still enjoy the addition of the wood, and how it sections the earth sections.

the plan is to post about each piece in more detail and so i’ll do that later.