My open studio show is next Wednesday, and so I am currently experimenting with the presentation of some of the projects i’ve been working on for the past few weeks.

 

The studio space will become the exhibition space. And so the details of the space are ones which can’t be ignored. Paint splashes and drips on the floor and walls are traces of former residents. Control of the space can not be exercised as thoroughly as in the gallery. Here, work will be presented in the context of all the activity that the space has absorbed.

 

Traces are also found in the production of work. The finished product is determined by the environment in which it is created. I had eight prints made at a local print shop and all but two had ink marks or grubby fingerprints on them. But these are details that makes these prints unique to the experience of the residency. They are the result of my experience of the print shop and of trying to explain the paper, size and numbers of prints, using gestures, diagrams and a little Mandarin. Without explanation the presentation of the ‘spoilt’ prints might appear rushed or unprofessional. What I’m finding really interesting at the moment is the drawing of the line between the vision or design and the finished product or installation. And how relinquishing control over the details of the presentation of the work, may in-fact add to, or contextualise the work further.

 

 

 

Trees.